Week of Jan. 29, 2015

Remembering the Shoah

On Jan. 27, the international community, Canada included, commemorates the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Generally, we think of liberation as something glorious, something celebrated. But the response was not as jubilant as one may suspect. Many who were liberated immediately faced a plethora of challenges ranging from not over-eating (which usually resulted in death), finding safe shelter, and locating surviving relatives. 

Holocaust survivor Elly Gotz often recounts his experience of liberation during his many well-received talks to schools around the globe. After being liberated from Dachau by U.S. troops, his weakened and malnourished father, Julius Gotz, responded to the news by asking when his soup ration would be available – a very genuine concern. Liberation symbolized very real and new concerns, and was not a time of carefree celebrations.

The eventual defeat of Nazi Germany was surely cause for joy in the Allied world, but the liberation of the camps was not celebrated with parades, banners, and sensuous kisses in the street. Shortly after the war, Holocaust survivors had to re-build their lives, often in hostile environments with little support. Even in Canada, the reception of survivors was lacklustre. But as time passed and our collective memory grew, we began to acknowledge the true horror that the Holocaust represented, and that celebrating those who survived those horrors was necessary. 

Currently, conditions for many around the world are far from favourable. International manifestations of anti-Semitism are apparent on our front pages daily, as well as other manifestations of hatred and prejudice.

Shortly after the war, the Polish American Journal wrote an article recognizing a “week of brotherhood,” a Jewish and Christian initiative meant to inspire peace and religious tolerance. This was a time where regardless of faith, race, or ethnicity, people would join to focus on one another’s humanity and not what divides us. The PAJ stated that fascism and all forms of hatred should not, and could not, be the ideology that ever prevails, not during the war, nor after. Instead, the week of brotherhood should inspire an attitude of neighbourliness not only for seven days, but all year long.

In 2015, we could use this example and apply it, not only on Jan. 27, but every day, so that “never again” represents a genuine reflection of what we stand for as a tolerant and civilized nation. 

Magdalena Kubow
London, Ont. 

Terror in Paris

We continuously read about the attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo and the kosher market as if they were separate and unrelated incidents. The former was an “attack on the freedom of expression” and the latter an “anti-Semitic assault.” In fact, both horrific acts were anti-Semitic. Two of those murdered in the Hebdo offices, Georges Wolinski and Elsa Cayat, were Jewish. 

Cayat, in particular, is significant because she was the only female among all those women in the office who died. Survivors have said that the murderous terrorists specifically stated that they didn’t kill women “except for this one,” referring to Cayat. So, indeed, both attacks were founded as much in anti-Semitism as anti-cartoon. 

The press, especially the French press, will downplay this relationship, but no one should be fooled. Six Jews died on those terrible days, not four, and the root cause was much more than just a cartoon about Muhammad. 

Saul Glober
Toronto 

No peace with Hamas

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was never a territorial one, but an existential one. The question here is can a non-Muslim country, by definition an infidel, be allowed to exist in the Middle East? This is the core of the dilemma.

It is useless to talk of borders when the attitude is, “You don’t belong here. You are a result of a catastrophe.” History is being denied, including archeology: no Temple, no kings, no Judea. It is all a Zionist plot. 

The pact with Hamas terrorists, sworn to destroy Israel, with a one-way sea trip for Jews, speaks volumes of their future intentions. But as long as Israel cannot be defeated, the strategy remains: Israel wins and it gives back land; Hamas wins, keeps all and Israel goes.

Max Kon
Montreal