No comparison

Although Seth J. Frantzman, in “Europe exported ISIS jihadism as it once did Nazism” (Terra Incognita, October 10), does, quite correctly, paint a horrific picture of Islamic State crimes carried out by European collaborators, I think it is a mistake to equate this with the events of the Holocaust.

As Prof. Yehuda Bauer of Yad Vashem has repeatedly pointed out, the Holocaust was a unique event in modern history marked by its own “unprecedentedness,” wherein 6 million Jews throughout Europe were systematically hunted down, dehumanized and singled out for total annihilation using the latest technological methods – just because they were Jews.

The unprecedentedness of the Holocaust made it the yardstick against which other mass killings could be compared and measured, which is probably what Mr. Frantzman was trying to do. However, I believe that to equate other killings, no matter how egregious, with the unprecedented events of the Holocaust is to diminish its uniqueness and the lessons to be learned. MARION REISS Beit Shemesh