The situation is…

So here is my narrative. I’m a second-generation Volksdeutscher refugee who lived in the refugee camp of Toronto but has relocated to the refugee camp of Mexico City. I am waiting to be repatriated to my homeland in Hungary so that I can reclaim my God-given birthright and tend to the land that is rightfully mine.

I’m on the outside looking in. As a non-Jew, I will never fully know what it’s like.  However, I am deeply involved as my husband, a secular Jew, became a fervent Zionist when the world began to crumble after October 7, 2023. I have followed suit but not because I’m so connected to the Jewish community, through him. If Canada, with all of its colonialism, has a right to exist, then Israel has a greater right.

Well before October 7^th, in fact, many years ago, my husband said he had no particular attraction to Israel, but he was glad that there was a place to go to, should the situation arise. The situation? At the time, this term seemed so abstract. Now, we all know what he meant by the “situation”.

The situation is that the October 7^th Massacre did not receive worldwide condemnation.

The situation is that there was an unchecked tidal wave of antisemitism that swallowed the world and drowned humanity and humility. Little did I know, the Jew hate had always been lurking underneath, gestating, waiting to be reborn. A mycelial network of wokeism, ultra-left ideology, and antisemitism coupled with Jihadist fervor.

The situation is that most, if not all, Jews in the diaspora have felt the Earth shift below their feet in a seismic event with non-stop aftershocks. The only security this time is that there is a country they can flee to and have military protection which was never available during any other pogrom.

This situation has now morphed. Instead of the intended Jihadist and Woke agenda of dismantling Israel, Israel has fortified and solidified its resolve. Israel is here to stay. They will fight to the death as they know they have nowhere else to go other than this country the size of New Jersey.

The Black Sabbath installation of October 7th at Hostages Square Tel Aviv, January 2025 – During the Iron Swords War Photo credit: Chenspec, Wikicommons

The October 7^th massacre led a few to believe that Israel could be conquered and eradicated. That deep gash into the side of Israel showed a moment of weakness that will never be repeated. The wound is healing, and the body is stronger than ever.

The situation for us personally is that Canada has proven it is a land for all, but not for the Jews. A multicultural mosaic has proven to be an error. The United States has forged a national identity based on a melting pot of different peoples. If you ask an American what they are, you will hear “American”. If you ask a Canadian what they are, you might probably hear some ethnicity. If asked, I would probably say that I’m German before saying I’m Canadian. That’s how I identify, although I was born in Canada and have lived most of my life there.

Sure! There is racism and antisemitism in the United States. But Canada? We always thought we were morally superior to our neighbors to the south. We were refined, dignified, and polite, but not always friendly. Americans are gregarious and friendly but can be perceived as abrasive and rude. We paraded around with our social medicine in our back pocket, sitting on the coattails of the US absorbing the privilege of convenient geography. We don’t need an army. We don’t need to defend ourselves. We are above that. Everybody likes us. Well, that turned out to be somewhat true as Trump likes us enough to adopt us as his 51^st State.

In my opinion, the option of a two-state solution will never be seen in my lifetime and more than likely not even in my grandchild’s lifetime. You cannot give control to those who want you dead, full-stop.

As a wayward Catholic whose parents were two of the twelve million Germans who were displaced from Eastern Europe after World War II due to the crimes of Nazi Germany,  I’m quite familiar and comfortable with the idea of Collective Punishment and Collective Guilt. For me, this is the norm.

German Expellees from Eastern Europe, 1945 Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1985-021-09 / Unknown author / CC-BY-SA 3.0 (Wikicommons)

So here is my narrative. I’m a second-generation Volksdeutscher refugee who lived in the refugee camp of Toronto but has relocated to the refugee camp of Mexico City. I am waiting to be repatriated to my homeland in Hungary so that I can reclaim my God-given birthright and tend to the land that is rightfully mine. My daughters are 3^rd generation refugees and my soon-to-be-born grandchild is 4^th generation.

All of the Germans moved on. They were not given a choice. The Heimkehr political movement started in the 1930s and was exploited by Hitler as his justification for invading countries in Eastern Europe, to justify incorporating the ethnic German peoples in the larger German Nation State. This movement was formally ended by Willy Brandt on December 7, 1970, to maintain the newly established peace.  Keeping populations somewhat homogenous has proven to be the path to peace.  This is one of many reasons why the Allies decided on the expulsion of the ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe. There would no longer be any temptation for a land grab by Germany. Peace at all costs even if it crushes a decades-old dream.

In my naivete, I was sure that antisemitism was dead. I knew that there were some fringe elements who were still hateful, spewing their hate. But by and large, after visiting Germany several times and visiting a variety of Holocaust monuments, I felt that Germany had accepted its guilt and had atoned for the sins of the world. After October 7^th, my initial bitter disappointment has morphed into a sometimes uncontrollable rage. Occasionally I lash out at people either for their Jew Hate or their stupidity, or both.

My husband feels so bad. He feels he has inflicted this on me by his sheer existence, by the fact that he is Jewish. He says I lack the cultural conditioning of 3,000 years of Jewish Tsores. We often talk about this and my decision to follow him in his desire to find a better life. We had such a discussion again yesterday.

Last night, I wanted to wake him as he slept, when this thought rushed through my mind. I’ll follow you to the ends of Earth. I may not be happy with the upheaval all the time, but I’m in.

The endless road through the Negev Desert, Israel Photo Credit: Grand Parc – Bordeaux, France