Against broadening Holocaust commemorations

Calling a spade a spade and a Jew a Jew

In a first, the German parliament spotlights Nazis’ LGBTQ victims. That is very nice but not on Holocaust Commemoration Day.

To understand this position, one needs to know why the Holocaust was unique. It was the attempt to eradicate Jews from the face of the earth. All genocides are atrocious. All supremacy is murderous. All wars are costly.

Yet, trying to exterminate the Jewish Nation was worse than all other genocides, supremacies, and wars ever were and could be. Why?

Judaism birthed Monotheism and human equality, and thereby gave realistic options to polytheism, supremacy, classicism, oppression, injustice, and war. In fact, it started teaching a comprehensive vision for protecting the truth and the weak, overtaxing the powerful, equality for the law, importance to every man and woman, democracy, etc.

Jews laid the foundation not only for Christianity and Islam, but also for political Europe, democracy, and pacifism. Here it comes: The attempt, mainly in Europe (many powerful Americans complicit), to exterminate the Jews was not just a genocide of the other, and not just murder of one’s fellow, but of one’s parent. That makes the Holocaust unprecedented.

On top of that, don’t forget that in the 30s, Germany was the leader of the Western world, scientifically, culturally, you name it. What now is the US.

The industrial efficiency and cold-bloodedness make it all even worse.

And in addition to that, the hostility or at least passivity of dozens of European nations, a few excluded, made this the moral demise of Europe.

Rightly so, many Catholics and Protestants feel that this was a culmination of 2,000 years of teaching hatred and effectuating persecution, needing them to ask themselves how anything worthy of calling itself a religion for the betterment of humankind could have done this.

And the worst are the millions of Europeans and dozens of European States that have learned nothing from this. They have not brought the perpetrators to justice, not cleaned up Antisemitism from their news reports, are still arrogantly lecturing Israel, and won’t protect it in the UN.

Speaking of which, when recently, the UN decided to drag Israel to the long-term Antisemitic ‘International Court of Justice’ in the Hague, the only European countries who voted against were Germany, Austria, and Italy. Only the former Triple Alliance countries really had learned their lesson.

Yes, 20% of Germany is still deeply Antisemitic. But the other 80% gives it no power or legitimacy. In the rest of Europe, Jews are unprotected. As a visible Jew, today, I cannot safely walk the streets of the Netherlands. This is already for 30 years, and no one cares. Their national Antisemitic press organizations and reporters daily lie about Israel in any way they want.

That’s why the Holocaust should not be seen as just another genocide, just another racist attack on innocent people, just another form of injustice.

As long as Antisemitism is as powerful as it is still today, including within the Churches and Mosques, the good ones excluded, and our Allies stand out as rare exceptions, there is no place to generalize the Holocaust.

The first lesson of Auschwitz is: acknowledge and stop Antisemitism.

Gypsies, homosexual men, trade unionists and Communists, the demented, psychiatric patients, crippled, and others were also mass murdered by the Nazis, including in Auschwitz. They, too, must be honored and never forgotten. They deserve their own commemoration days.

This while, of course, left-wing, homosexual, demented, mentally ill, etc. Jews must not be excluded from the general Holocaust commemorations.

Also, innocent bystanders, civilian fatalities, deserve their commemoration dates. And Nazi soldiers who died left behind innocent loved ones and even can be mourned—but not glorified. And not together with the Jews.

Many Nazis are general bigots, equally hating Jews, Blacks, homosexuals, and others. However, we must not equalize the Jews out of the picture.

This, especially, because many oppressed groups have been set up against the Jews. Jews have been portrayed until today as the ultimate oppressor. Until that is undone, Holocaust Remembrance Day can only be a protest against the Holocaust and ongoing local and international Antisemitism.

Europe and anyone else should not have any opportunity to ignore the hard truth of what is Jew-hatred and to stop all of it today still.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1