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Kenneth Jacobson

Why Holocaust education has never been more important

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27th — International Holocaust Remembrance Day — gives us all an opportunity for one of the last times to celebrate the lives of those who survived Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration and death camps.

As survivors pass away and time takes its toll, this is an occasion to focus on the fact that those who survived largely chose life and hope over bitterness and regret. They have set a model example for the Jewish people and indeed for all mankind, that no matter how horrible the experience, one can still overcome. 

In addition, we commend the survivors for giving unparalleled testimony to the reality of the Shoah. Nothing compares to hearing directly from a survivor about the depths of evil that was the Nazi extermination campaign. Indeed, as surveys, including ADL’s recent Global 100 poll, indicate that young people know very little about the Holocaust and that Holocaust denial is maintaining a foothold in certain circles, the passing away of those who could personally attest to the reality of the Holocaust will present a major challenge going forward. 

And on this day, let us not forget the actions by US General Dwight D. Eisenhower, head of Allied Forces during World War II, who insisted that he personally witness the situation in the concentration camps. It was his testimony, after visiting Buchenwald in April 1945, about the horrors that he saw, together with the images in the photos of a Look magazine piece, that brought home to the American people and the world the genocide that had taken place. Eisenhower prophetically said at that time: “I made the visit here deliberately in order to be in a position to give first hand images of these things if ever in the future there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda.”

Jews benefitted dramatically from this reporting because it generated a sense of shame of what antisemitism had led to, and this shame served as an inhibiting factor against acts of Jew hatred for many decades. 

Even as we remember the day of liberation, which enabled the survivors in Auschwitz to return to freedom and life, we must remember and educate about what Auschwitz was— a place where over a million Jews were murdered. It all was able to happen because of centuries of deeply embedded antisemitism in Western civilization which suffused the thinking of the perpetrators, the Nazis, their collaborators, the fascist groups and others across Europe, and the bystanders, the many millions who knew what was happening but were indifferent at best. 

And it happened because the world did not take the Nazi threat seriously, despite their persecution of Jews in Germany, until it was too late. Thank G-d that America entered the war after Pearl Harbor, which eventually saved the world from Nazism, but it entered the war too late to save the Jews of Europe. America and the Allies only truly went on the offensive after D-Day in June, 1944, by which time four million Jews had already been slaughtered. European Jews paid the ultimate price for American isolationism in the 1930s.

Now, as antisemitism once again surges across the world, not only are incidents wildly up but so are attitudes, having more than doubled in 10 years, according to ADL’s 2024 Global 100 survey. It is clear that learning the lessons of the Holocaust is more important than ever.

The challenges are many. With the last Holocaust survivors dying out, it is becoming more difficult to make distant events, no matter how monumental, seem relevant to young people. Going forward, the absence of personal testimony will make Holocaust education even harder. 

Additionally, that sense of shame that inhibited Jew-hatred has largely dissipated as the Shoah seems like a distant event. 

Most significantly is the challenge of learning from the Holocaust without diminishing it.

There is so much that our current world could learn from studying the Holocaust: from the impact of antisemitism, to not standing up early against extremism and hate, to the need to take seriously threats that come from political leaders, and for the need for Jews never to be powerless again in the face of evil.

In the process, however, there is often too much of a readiness to compare present evils to the Holocaust, and in doing so undermining understanding of the reality of the unique criminality and evil that it was. In this regard is the temptation to compare the atrocities of October 7 and the surge of antisemitism to the Shoah. As terrible as things may seem today, the Holocaust they are not.

Let’s remember on this anniversary the unique elements of the Shoah. It was the systematic, intentional effort to destroy the Jewish people, resulting in the deaths of six million.

Moreover, it didn’t matter which side of World War II Jews were on, they were all targeted for destruction. Being Jewish was the only thing that mattered to the Nazis.

And, Jews were powerless to defend themselves at the worst possible time.

So let us celebrate the lives of those who were liberated from Auschwitz and other camps for living such meaningful lives, but let us all remember what can happened when evil is not combatted early on. 

About the Author
Kenneth Jacobson is Deputy National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.
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