Ronen Shnidman, at The Blogs

Ronen Shnidman

May 31, 2026, 3:24 PM

Why Do Holocaust Trips Only Go to Poland?

A map of the Holocaust in Europe. (Credit: Dennis Nilsson via Wikipedia.)

For Israeli teenagers in high school, it’s a common rite of passage to go on a school-organized educational trip to one of the Holocaust death camps operated by the Nazis in Poland. One of the lessons of the trip,...

Dec 24, 2025, 6:55 AM

Remembering Mileva Marić-Einstein, Wife of Israel’s Would Be 2nd President

Milena Marić Einstein and husband Albert, 1912. Credit: ETH Zurich Archives

This past Friday marked the 150th birthday of Mileva Marić, the intellectual and first wife of famed mathematician and physicist Albert Einstein. In science history, Mileva Marić-Einstein occupies a complex and increasingly significant place, not only as the first...

Aug 3, 2025, 10:49 AM

Who Remembers the Roma Holocaust?

Yesterday, August 2, wasn't just the eve of Tisha B'av, the day which Jews mourn the destruction of the two Temples. It was also the annual commemoration of the Samudaripen, the Roma Holocaust during World War II. Yet, while this...

Jul 22, 2025, 4:16 AM

UN University of Peace Fetes Israeli Soldier

Maj. (res.) Barak Gabor receives certificate of recognition from former UN General Assembly President Srdjan Kerim.

A member of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was recognized for his contributions to the culture of peace by the former president of the UN General Assembly and professor of the European Center for Peace and Development of the...

Apr 21, 2025, 9:01 AM

Putting Jasenovac on the Holocaust Map: An Oath Kept

The Jasenovac memorial site in Croatia. (Bern Bartsch under a Creative Commons license.)

Despite controversies in recent years with Polish governments, it has long been an educational rite of passage for Israeli youth to visit one of the Nazi death camps on Polish soil. The goal is to remind and inculcate into...

Apr 28, 2024, 3:13 PM

Genocide: When lawfare masquerades as human rights

The aftershocks of Hamas deadly terror assault on October 7, 2023, are still being felt. Many in the world decided to characterize Israel’s response as an act of genocidal aggression instead of an obviously needed act of self-defense that...

Dec 22, 2023, 6:23 PM

Tesla Enjoying a Resurgence 80 Years After Death

Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla. Credit: Public Domain

Before Elon Musk named a car company after him or David Bowie played him in a Christopher Nolan film, Nikola Tesla was the epitome of the inventor scientist, and this year marks the 80th anniversary of his death. In...

Oct 15, 2023, 12:22 PM

Did Hamas light the fuse of World War III?

Is Gaza lighting the fuse of World War III? Credit:: GDJ from Pixabay

“This could be the start of World War III,” said my Greek interlocutor, referring to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza. “You are fighting for us,” he later added. At first, I didn’t take him seriously. Having lived...

Sep 4, 2023, 3:41 PM

Finding a Place for Zemun in Holocaust Memory

A crowd gathers as the Zemun Jewish community unveils a plaque commemorating WWII era Holocaust victims from the Serbian municipality. (Credit: Jugoslav Rakita)

The Jewish Community of Zemun commemorated on Sunday the 575 community members it lost to the Holocaust with a memorial plaque outside where the Serbian municipality’s Sephardic synagogue once stood. The event held on September 3, the European Day...

Mar 26, 2023, 1:50 PM

To the EU: Stop Rehabilitating World War II Collaborators

This past Tuesday, the fascist collaborator and former Archbishop of Zagreb Aloysius Stepinac was commemorated in the European Parliament in Brussels as part of a multi-year campaign to revise the history of the Holocaust in Croatia and the former...

About Me

Ronen is a freelance journalist as well as an experienced Hebrew-English translator. He has also written for Buzzfeed, Haaretz, JTA, JNS, The Forward and The Jerusalem Post.