My aunt survived the massacre. Now, we have to do more than just say “never say it again.”
Miriam and her sisters Adele and Anna and Anna’s baby Esther were rounded up with hundreds of other Jews in Poland during World War II and ordered the undress to be taken off. Instead, the sisters ran around and found shelter in an abandoned tannery. It’s very quiet. Suddenly, Anna’s voice begged her child to break the silence. The camera rang twice. They will never see Anna or her children again.
Then remain silent. After Miriam’s cough broke the silence, an armed collaborator discovered the pair’s hiding place. As the girl faced certain executions, a German soldier looked at his watch and said, “Let them go. It’s enough today.”
Eventually, the sisters separated. Miriam, who needs a ration card, attempted to register at the employment center using fake baptism documents, but she was suspected. Her fate is now in the hands of Baby Esther, who had murdered her sister Anna, and the German officers who had two brothers.
As she was waiting for her qualification challenge, a German officer walked in and looked at Miriam and said, “This girl would do that.” That was how Miriam escaped some deaths for the second time and became a slave laborer during World War II. My aunt Miriam and Adele survived the war and immigrated to the United States.
Holocaust anniversary should be called
I often think of the horrors they experienced, especially on April 24, Holocaust anniversary or Atonement Day. It was a day to reflect on the lives of survivors like my aunt and the six million Jews murdered by German fascists.
Miriam and Adele passed by. There are few survivors left now, but the bungalow industry that killed the residents has gained momentum. A recent survey report said one in 10 young people believe the Holocaust has never happened. 23% think it’s a myth or the number of people killed is exaggerated. Far-right groups such as Proud Boys and Swearing Guardians have emerged and been legalized. The Trump administration champions white Christian nationalist leaders in Vladimir Putin in Hungary and Russia.
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These developments make Holocaust Day even more important, as it is a day for the public to educate the public on the mass persecution sponsored by the state and the murder of millions of people by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The goal of that genocide movement was to target opponents of the German fascist government and Nazis, who believed that because of anti-Semitism, homophobia, or hatred of others, the Nazis believed that it was biologically inferior. During the Holocaust, two-thirds of European Jews were murdered.
Anniversary should be more than just a time to remember and reflect on. They must also be targeting calls for the use of state power to persecute minorities and engage in ethnic cleansing.
In memory, we must oppose the attacks on the national recognition of freedoms and rights that occur in the United States today. This means rejecting the Trump administration’s demonization of immigration, refugees and LGBTQ communities.
The United States’ attack on freedom is the same as that of Nazi Germany
Fascism does not start with gas chambers. It begins with the ban on books, censorship and attacks on the press’s personal freedom, speech and assembly, followed by the persecution and arrest of political opponents and the persecution of “substantial races.” The death camp is the final stage in the state’s goal of establishing the Aryan supremacy.
Today, we are attacking these freedoms. School districts and art colleges are banning books that promote racial and gender equality. On the way to dinner, Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk is surrounded by an unidentified masked hockey agent in a scene, handcuffed and kidnapped, reminiscent of the smeared Latin American dictatorship. Her only crime was conducting freedom of speech, co-authoring an article criticizing the U.S. support for Israel’s genocide war against the Palestinian people. Other foreign students were also arrested by ICE agents and imprisoned away from family and friends without due process. Hundreds of visas have been terminated.
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father of three protected status, was arrested and sentenced to jail for the government’s confession of being an “administrative error.” He is still imprisoned in the cruel El Salvador prison. The purpose of these arrests is to institutionalize terror into national policies, just as the Nazis threatened Jewish families.
These attacks are not limited to immigrants and refugees, although this is bad enough. Canadian business consultant Jasmine Mooney was “kidnapped” by immigration authorities and was jailed for 12 days despite having job opportunities and visa paperwork. President Trump confirmed in a shocking statement that he intends to start deporting U.S. citizens to El Salvador Gulag.
We cannot remain silent in the face of the attack of freedom
Trump pursues our freedom in the name of fighting against anti-Semitism. They are different.
Not long ago, Trump praised a mob for chanting “Jews won’t replace us” because of “very good people” and claimed that let Hitler mean “immigrants are poisoning the country’s blood.” His reason is the smoke screen.
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As the son of the first generation of Jewish parents, my father fought fascism in World War II, I was taught to never remain silent in the face of injustice. This is still a lesson from the Holocaust. The silence of accomplice in the face of the Trump administration’s attack on our freedom and democracy.
In August 1963, Miriam joined 250,000 others in the Washington march and freedom. If she was alive today, I know how she would celebrate Holocaust Day: by actively opposing the Trump administration’s attack on the rights and freedoms of all of us, citizens, immigrants and refugees. This is the only way to give meaning to the speech that “never again”.
Michael Rosen is a retired professor at the Milwaukee Regional Technical College.
This article originally appeared in Milwaukee Daily: US similar rights attacks on Nazi Germany | Views
