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Silent No More
If you were beaten and bullied as a child, if you lived for nine years in constant fear of being tortured or killed, if you and your family fled your home, losing everything, and were forced to live in a tent, would you call yourself ‘lucky’?
I used to be somewhat ambivalent about the “celebration” of Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27; in one sense, I felt it was important to remind the world that six million Jews and six million other folks were killed by the Nazis and their enablers. The phrase, “Never Forget” is embedded in my psyche. On the other hand, I wonder if this particular memorial day serves as a devastating reminder to many people—survivors and their families–who want to forget that horrific time. And ironically, I also wonder if it is an irritant to those people who experience resentment or even hatred toward the Jews, exacerbating their negative perspective.
Still, Abraham Pizam is the man described at the beginning of this post by a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel. Today he is the founding dean of UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management. He survived the Holocaust and gave a presentation at the January 27 event about his own experience. It was the first time he had spoken publicly about the Holocaust. Here’s a report on part of what he shared:
When Pizam was 8, his father took him to a local cemetery and had him open a coffin. Inside were brick-like bars engraved with initials that his father said meant ‘Pure Jewish Fat.’ They were, the boy was told, soap that the Germans had made from the bodies of murdered Jews.
In accordance with Jewish law on human remains, the soap had been given a burial.
‘Imagine the shock I had as an 8-year-old,’ he said.
For decades, the soap story was embraced by Holocaust survivors throughout the world. And though Pizam would later learn it was a myth — propaganda, perhaps, to further terrorize the Jews — that day has stayed with him.
To me, the word “propaganda” was a key part of his comment. We live in a time when we are bombarded by our own version of propaganda; it’s nearly impossible to separate truth from fiction, rumors from fact. The propaganda we are told goes beyond anti-Semitism; it pervades our government, our schools, our healthcare–nearly every aspect of life in this country. Even though Pizam had refrained from telling his story publicly, because he preferred to leave his experience in the past, he now sees that times have changed, and not for the better. Where he once believed that the world had turned a page into a new and enlightened time, he now worries about the future:
‘Finally, I am relieved I can share my story,’ he said. ‘Silence is an enemy.’
Where once he was optimistic, though, now his outlook is tempered by doubt.
‘This can happen here, believe it or not,’ he said. ‘Looking at the news, look at what’s happening right now as we speak, looking at our country, with both the right and the left becoming more and more antisemitic, I start questioning my hope. And I hope that I’m wrong. And I wish that I’m wrong.’
I, too, hope he is wrong.
Published in Culture
I think I understand your point, OB, and it’s an insightful one. It’s important to note that 12 million died, and only half of them were Jews. Would the memory of the Holocaust stay alive if the Jews were silent? Would gentiles honor the day if Jews didn’t? Should the date be jointly honored by both Jews and gentiles? Or should we just move on? This connects a bit to my opening comments in the OP. I don’t have a simple answer.
It is routinely alleged by people that Israel IS perpetrating a “holocaust” against Palestinians. No politician ever lost a vote for making Nazi/Holocaust comparisons, not on my side of the Atlantic anyway. In fact, many “pro-Palestinians” take evil pleasure from making these comparisons because they know how deep they go. “The Gaza Strip is the same as the Warsaw Ghetto” is one routine claim . That it is objectively false to say these things makes not a whit of difference.
The far right and far left do find common ground in antisemitism, if nothing else. This is a serious problem for Jews who know from history how words can turn to stones and then to gas chambers. That you put words in the man’s mouth and then interpret them literally so as to make your point is unimpressive.
Since you don’t like discussions of the Holocaust, you could do yourself and others a favour and stay out of them.
The true enemy is the left. They would put all that disagree with them into concentration camps. Some during this plandemic have advocated as much. The right worldwide is out of power and held in complete contempt , other than pockets. Once we are under the lefts thumb completely. Their special hatreds will emerge for special treatment. Jew’s first followed by Christians.
The New World Order, The Great Reset , etc.., is Godless . It will hate any and all that hold to God’s moral code, or for that mater any code other than it’s own . It will demand complete obedience. Defiance will bring imprisonment and death. As in the Gulag Archipelago , and the Jewish internment camps. The truly sadistic will be in charge.
I am unable to send a PM to Jerry Giordano–the recipient line comes up with some kind of garbage in it. So I am posting this message publicly. We have been corresponding today regarding, in particular, my allusions to his being an anti-Semite.
I had no evidence to back up my conclusion, and I want to apologize to Jerry most sincerely for my statements. It was a hateful and hurtful thing to do. We have not reached agreement in other related areas of the discussion, but my comments were inappropriate and I sincerely apologize. If any of you are friends with Jerry and are able to send him a PM referring to this comment before he leaves Ricochet, you are welcome to do so. I am about to go offline for the Sabbath and won’t be back on until Saturday night.
And my apologies to all.
I think his membership ended a few days ago. Go to https://reallawtucson.com/gerald-giordano, and you will see his company website. His e-mail address is there.
Thanks, Flicker. He initiated our exchange today so I thought he might still be active.
Oh. Yes. I don’t know then. But I tried a few days ago and no DMs would go through.
Added: But it looks like his last comment on this post was in the afternoon of Feb. 1.
I wrote to his email.