When Antisemitism Shifts From Mere Rhetoric To Pure Violence
The original Kristallnacht took place on the night of November 9-10, 1938, in Germany. During that dreadful night, the fate of six million European Jews was sealed. That was 86 years ago. The event is called Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass.” The reason given by the Nazis was the assassination of German official Ernst vom Rath, shot two days prior by Polish teenager Herschel Grynszpan, who was reacting to his parents’ deportation.
Truthfully, it had nothing to do with the death of the Nazi officer. The boycott/pogrom of Jewish synagogues, schools, businesses, and homes, resulting in the death of almost 100 Jewish people and the destruction of 7,500 properties, was well planned. The Nazis simply needed a reason, and they made one up as an excuse for widespread, state-sanctioned violence resulting from anti-Semitic policies.
As a result, 30,000 Jewish people were sent to concentration camps. Serious historians agree that Kristallnacht was the onset of the Holocaust, shifting Nazi antisemitism from mere rhetoric to pure violence and murder. It set in motion the death factories aimed at accomplishing “the final solution to the Jewish question.,” and they almost succeeded!
Whenever there is any abuse, whether it be the tight vise of a dictatorship, religious fanaticism, or ethnic cleansing, to name just a few, the grip of abuse is always facilitated by the apathy of those who could make a difference. In the words of Elie Wiesel, “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
After over 400 days of conflict in Israel on up to seven fronts and still waiting for the release of over 100 hostages, we must come to the sobering realization that that ominous era of destructive Jew hatred is upon us again, and this time, it is global.
In my recent book, “The Normalization of Antisemitism: When the Longest Hatred Becomes the New Normal,” I identify ten steps toward the complete normalization of antisemitism: Apathy, lack of education, desensitization, low or incorrect reporting, no accountability, empowerment, demonization of the defenders, increased persecution of Jews and defenders, encouragement to kill, and, mass murder of Jews. Even though I saw the first nine in place when my book was first published in June 2023, the last one, “mass murder of Jews,” was–unfortunately– also accomplished on October 7, 2023.
Some will say that the current situation differs significantly from the systemic, state-sponsored persecution of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s. Indeed, we are not yet at a point where the government is rounding up Jews and putting them on trains to the death camps, like what happened to my maternal grandfather. This being said, when we see the toxic rhetoric coming against the Jewish people and the violence often attached to it, it makes you wonder how much further we need to get to relive Kristallnacht. Not far I am afraid.
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