What Does The Holocaust Have To Do With You?
The Holocaust is an extreme example of what can happen when we lose our common humanity. We live in a world where taking sides and holding strong, often uninformed viewpoints is the norm and coming together in a place of shared empathy and understanding is unusual. We believe, as Tyler Perry has eloquently stated, that hate ends and change begins when people can meet in the middle. Learning about the Holocaust helps us remember what hate and division can do - not only to Jewish people - but to others who are demeaned and dehumanized around the world and in our own backyards.
What is the Holocaust? Why is Holocaust Denial Antisemitic?
The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and murder of six million Jews in Europe by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. The Holocaust did not happen in a vacuum but evolved from thousands of years of antisemitism throughout Europe. Adolf Hitler wrote his playbook of hate using and amplifying stereotypes, lies and conspiracy theories that already existed. He scapegoated Jews for Germany’s problems and then systematically isolated them from society by removing them from their professions, barring them from schools, subjecting them to humiliation, and limiting how and where they could live. By dehumanizing and ostracizing the Jews, Hitler was able to realize his “Final Solution” or the wide-scale annihilation of Jews by forced labor in concentration camps, gas chambers in death centers, or by mass shootings. Hitler did not limit his hatred to the Jewish people. He killed millions more including people with disabilities, Romani people, non-Jewish Poles, political opponents, criminals, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Black people. For a history of the Holocaust, see this student guide.
FACTS: In 2020, the first 50-state survey of Millennials and Gen Z showed a shocking lack of basic facts about the Holocaust: 63% did not know 6 million Jews were murdered, 48% thought that “2 million or fewer” were killed, and 48% could not name one concentration camp. New York was one of the states with the lowest “Holocaust Knowledge” scores: 20% surveyed felt that “Jews caused the Holocaust.”
Holocaust denial is when people question the reality of the Holocaust, the number of Jews that were systematically murdered, or claim that it did not take place. As Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Deborah Lipstad, explains, “Holocaust denial is, quite plainly, a form of antisemitism. It is not about history. It is about attacking, discrediting, and demonizing Jews.”
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Deborah Lipstadt
Holocaust Denial, Explained
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The only way to combat Holocaust denial is through education and sharing survivors' testimonies. With fewer survivors alive today, it is up to us to continue to tell their stories. Holocaust education is mandated in only 25 states and according to the ADL there is “a direct relationship between deficiencies in Holocaust education and heightened prejudicial, antisemitic beliefs.” Professor Alan Marcus from UConn, writes specifically about combating antisemitism through Holocaust education in the era of Twitter (now X) and TikTok and explains how we can learn to separate the truth from fake news on these platforms.
Eva Mozes Kor, a child survivor of the Holocaust, is one of more than 55,000 survivors who have documented their personal stories. In this video, Eva speaks about her experience as a twin in Auschwitz and her path to forgiveness.
