The World Has Forgotten the Pogrom in Amsterdam. We Cannot

Less than a week has passed since the pogrom in Amsterdam, yet it feels as though it has already been forgotten. Jews walking on the streets of Holland were beaten mercilessly for the great crime of being born Jewish. Jews who trusted foreign governments to ensure their safety were once again let down. The harrowing images of Jews being hunted down by mobs thirsty for Jewish blood served as a chilling reminder of atrocities from centuries past. Such widespread unapologetic antisemitism has not been seen in Europe in decades, yet somehow, already it has been forgotten. 

I guess that I should not be surprised. After all, the world seems to have a very short memory when it comes to dead Jews. 

Who today remembers the tens of thousands of Jews who were viciously butchered at the hands of the Cossacks? I guess that was just too long ago to remember. Who today remembers what befell our forefathers in Kishinev and the rest of the shtetls? I guess that pogroms since then must have fallen out of fashion, so that, too, has been forgotten. Who today remembers not only what the Nazis did to our people during the Second World War, but also the cruelty inflicted upon us by the Ukrainians, Hungarians, Poles, and the rest of Europe? I guess that after the Second World War, the world felt it better to move on from past atrocities: too much time has passed, so we must forget. Dare I ask who in the world still remembers the savage murder of our men, the rape of our women, and the horrific burning of our children that occurred on October 7? I guess a lot has since happened in the Middle East, it must be hard to recall—and possibly the suffering of our people too inconvenient to remember. Perhaps it really should be of no surprise that what happened in Amsterdam has already been forgotten. 

Yet perhaps that is why the pogrom in Amsterdam was able to unfold in the first place.

 History, if not learned, is oftentimes repeated. For as long as the world has forgotten the great atrocities of the past—whether in Kishinev, Babi Yar, or Auschwitz—nothing prevents nations from descending once more into the dark abyss of antisemitism.

That is why the pogrom which unfolded in Amsterdam is so appalling. Not only because of the savagery and horror of the attacks themselves, but also because of the fact that it has so quickly faded from memory. If a vile act of such a large magnitude could so easily be forgotten and overlooked, it could very possibly be an ominous sign for what is yet to come.

At first, when I saw how quickly the world moved on from the pogrom in Amsterdam, I was shocked. However, then I remembered. I remembered that the world moved on from the Holocaust. I remembered that the world moved on from October 7. I remembered that the world moved on from the pogrom that unfolded less than a week ago in Amsterdam. That is why we must remember, for no one else will.

I will never forget. I will always remember.