I'm beginning to get frustrated. Frustrated with an excessive self-absorbed unhappiness of my culture and religion--the self-sympathy of Jews in regards to the holocaust.
I slumped in a chair, my mind racing with vexation as I listen to a circle of Jewish students (who had all attended the same Jewish elementary school) arguing for the importance of education of the holocaust as the supreme historical event. The class was 20th Century Global Conflicts and we were discussing genocide, so the holocaust was a likely topic to examine. I, however, was not willing to listen to the self-empathetic tone of my fellow classmates when they spoke of the holocaust, as if the entirety of the atrocities of the Nazi regime had been directed at their family, as if Jews are the only ones who can understand the pain experienced by the European Jewish population, as if the epithet "Never Again" has been fulfilled.
This narrow view of genocide, of the holocaust, hinders the potential lessons we can learn from the event itself. The lesson of the holocaust, is one for all people. It is one that must be learned because the problems are still with us.
The Jewish community must also move on. It is important to learn and educate but it is also important not to dwell. For this reason, I signed up to go on this European "holocaust" trip. My grandparents, a rabbi and rabbi's wife, will not travel to Germany. They will not accept the new generation of Germans as different people than the previous Nazi generation, much to their unrest. They have not, and will not forgive the Germans. I do not judge them for this. I, however, do not want to dwell. I want to work toward "Never Again" and as the survivors are leaving us, this is the time to learn. It is now our generations responsibility to set precedent for the meaning of the holocaust, for the lessons we can learn from it but also for the way in which we use that knowledge. Let that knowledge join us, help us fight for "Never Again", not further divide us as a global community, the divisions of which caused the holocaust in the first place. Yes we can join together and let the words Never Again define our achievements, not our lack there of.
-Gabriel Frankel
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- Eastern Europe Trip Students
- This summer, 18 students from Walter Payton College prep will explore the living history of the Nazi Holocaust through EF Education by visiting numerous historical institutions, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the Jewish Ghetto Memorial and Museum in Warsaw, Poland. Throughout the trip, students will also engage in lectures and discussions with collegiate Holocaust scholar, Dr. Timothy Kovalcik. Seeing these institutions face to face will undoubtedly deepen the students’ understanding of the Holocaust and their understanding of humankind’s capabilities.
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Your post really impacted me. I remember feeling exactly the same way about my own parents when I was younger...frustrated with their absolute refusal to buy anything German, to speak German or to visit Germany, all part of our heritage. I began to comprehend their view, however, after 9/11. That was the first time that I ever felt threatened because of my heritage, both as a Jew and as an American. I realized that a terrorist act has power beyond anything I had previously comprehended. Genocide is a collection of terrorist acts and is beyond hatred. I imagine that when somebody experiences that, it might be impossible to forgive. I think that some people feel like if they related to the Germans in any way, even those who had nothing to do with the Holocaust, it would imply forgiveness.
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