Remembrance begets action—neutrality isn’t viable

When you enter the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, DC, you’ll be struck first by two things. The first, a need for security—since its establishment in 1993, it’s seen a murder of one of its security officers by a neo-Zazi Holocaust-denier and myriad thwarted attempted bombings. The second, is the architecture.

James Ingo Freed, architect of the museum, said “There is no literal references to particular places or occurrences from the historic event. Instead, the architectural form is open-ended so the Museum becomes a resonator of memory.”

He hits it spot on. He visited numerous sites connected to the Holocaust, including several camps and ghettos. He successfully evokes an emotional connection between them and the visitor. These work together to help us understand, at least partially, the significance of both the horrors of the Holocaust and the institution itself.

Considering the massive uptick in antisemitism post-October 7th and the increasingly high proportion of the public who engage in Holocaust denial, it couldn’t be more important for people to visit.

These attacks on Jews are, unfortunately, nothing new. Stuart Eizenstat, chair of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, said, “In the wake of Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, the largest killing of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust, we are witnessing a horrific rise in antisemitism. College students, leaders, and the broader public need to learn the history and lessons of the Holocaust—the dangers of unchecked antisemitism, the power of propaganda, and the potential for complicity in group-targeted violence. All of us need to understand the lessons of the past and take responsibility for the future.”

I visited the memorial museum for the third time last week. My husband, his first visit, joined me. Previously, I had been during the summer between middle school and high school, on a field trip, and once as an adult about 7 or so years ago.

I remember feeling overwhelmed in my previous visits. As I had at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It is a museum, to be sure, but it really is a memorial and center for remembrance. It calls for a certain solemnity.

Unfortunately, not everyone visits in an open, respectful manner. What struck me most, this time, is that people seemed to have lost all sense of decorum.

In the line to enter, just in front of us, was a gentleman wearing a t-shirt that promoted gun violence—right down to the brand of bullet he prefers to shoot with.

Somewhere close behind us, there was a group, who my husband overheard, talking about how “Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians.” Fortunately, Malachi didn’t tell me about that at the time—I doubt I could have avoided interjecting myself into their conversation.

Mentions of Palestine, without context. Photographed with permission. Photo courtesy of Malachi Demmin-De Lise.

While the current conflict is decidedly not part of Holocaust education, the museum could do a much better job of providing some historical context for the term. Especially considering that it is used to bash Jews and revise historical understanding.

We cannot, in the face of current events, claim to be neutral or separate from them. The attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxies, are, yes, on Israel. But, they are also attacks on all of us. We must confront them, along with the historic horrors.

It is important to remember who attacked whom. Who the instigator is. In the early 20th century, it was the Nazis. Presently, it is part of the Arab world led by Iran and manned by the Palestinians.

Much as I hope for the hostages of the Black Sabbath to be freed and for peace to prevail in the Middle East and around the globe, I also wish people could take a step back from their antisemitism and engage in our society without hatred, without bigotry—and with facts, rather than distortions and opinions masquerading as facts.

Elie Wiesel, Survivor of the Holocaust & Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, shared some incredible wisdom:

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe.

The world isn’t neutral. Indeed it can be exceptionally cruel. Evidence throughout the museum highlights the gratuitous horrors inflicted. Such as this casting of a path at Treblinka that connected a killing facility with a camp for slave labor—made out of crushed headstones from a Jewish cemetery.

Photograph of the exhibit on the Treblinka Path. Photographed with permission. Photo courtesy of Malachi Demmin-De Lise.

So, as we visit, we stand in solidarity with the victims of genocide and are confronted, at every turn throughout the museum, by man’s inhumanity. The sheer loss. The incredible consequences of silence and complicity. The gravity of what came before. And, also, that things go on.

Elie Wiesel, had some more wisdom for us:

I believe firmly and profoundly that whoever listens to a witness becomes a witness, so that those who hear us, those who read us must continue to bear witness for us. Until now, they’re doing it with us. At a certain point in time, they will do it for all of us.

We are called to be those witnesses. To stand, to speak, for those who perished at the hands of the Nazis. And those who have perished from the evils of Hamas. Already, those that would trick you into denying the Holocaust, already try to shift the narrative from the dastardly attacks of some 10 months ago.

Listen to those who survived. You don’t have to visit a Holocaust museum—though you should—you can listen to their own words. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum offers a huge amount of Holocaust survivor testimony on their website. The USC Shoah Foundation, partnership with Tablet Studios, have created The Testimonies Archive for those who survived the October 7th attack.

Listen to some of those heartrending stories. Learn about the victims. Try to understand the incomprehensible. And then? Speak out and stand up.

None of us have the luxury of remaining silent. Reach out to your elected representatives and demand action against antisemitism. Give support to nonprofits supporting victims—such as The Blue Card, an organization supporting the living victims of the holocaust, or The Jewish Agency’s Fund for the Victims of Terror.