The survivors matter
The important and unprecedented events of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem took place against a backdrop of distressing statistics about the world’s remaining Holocaust survivors. The last people with memories of the Shoah are passing away. Soon, the Holocaust will no longer be in living memory but will pass to the second and third generation after the liberation of Auschwitz.
At the events on Thursday, not enough survivors were brought to Jerusalem or space made for them. This provides an opportunity to both praise this unprecedented gathering in Jerusalem and to emphasize how important it is to stand in solidarity with the survivors living among us.
In Israel, more than 40 world leaders came for the two days of events that mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. They came from countries that played key roles in defeating Nazism and in liberating camps, as well as from countries whose war record included collaboration or even leading the mass murder of Jews.
Today, we can only learn the lessons of that era and make sure that it never happens again. While we commemorate the history, it is important to continue to honor the living.
There are an estimated 192,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel today. 14,800 died last year. Most survivors are more than 85 years of age. Hundreds of them are over 100 years old. Over the years, as we learn more details about the extent of the Holocaust and suffering, we have also begun to understand that the Shoah also affected communities far from Auschwitz – in places like Morocco and Algeria.
The collaborationist Vichy regime harmed and discriminated against Jews in North Africa, and the Nazis, who sent divisions to North Africa, targeted Jews. They encourage antisemitism that later underpinned pogroms and assaults on Jews after 1945 by the rising Arab nationalist regimes. The shadow of the Shoah, therefore, did not only affect those in Europe, but had long-term consequences for Jews all over the world.
Where were these survivors at the events on Thursday? Where is the funding for the survivors who today often live in poverty by the tens of thousands? While we are good at holding events about the Holocaust, we too often are not as good at treating living survivors with the same respect. Reports indicated that only around 30 survivors were invited to attend the events. 780 people were able to fill the hall for the ceremony.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose parents survived the Holocaust, gave his delegation’s seats to survivors on Thursday. This was a symbolic and wonderful gesture. “We learned that many Holocaust survivors have not been able to visit the World Holocaust Forum,” he wrote. Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin also transferred his invitation to a survivor. Cabinet Secretary Tzachi Braverman and interim Prime Minister’s Office Director General Ronen Peretz also gave up their seats.
We can do more for the survivors who still live in poverty and also to make sure they are included in these kinds of commemorations. As time grows between the current generation and the Shoah, it has become clear how important it is to remember. In the US, for the first time in history, deadly violence is being used against Jews in an unprecedented wave of antisemitic attacks. Across Europe, Jews express fear of attacks and also note that perpetrators are rarely punished.
Even those who murder Jews get off with various excuses. Synagogues too often require not only armed guards, police and even military security, but have become fortresses. Terrorists attack Jews in schools and in kosher markets. No other community in the world is subjected to such systematic attacks.
This is because these countries have not learned the lesson of the Shoah. The least we can do is make sure that the world’s leaders see the human faces of survivors so that antisemitism, and survivors of antisemitic crimes, are not merely a story but an issue we face directly. If that lesson can be taken away from the World Holocaust Forum, it will have proven to be a resounding success.