The October 7 th murder of over 1200 Israelis and kidnapping of several hundred others has been described as the most vicious attack on Jews since the Holocaust. But when Israel fought back, the world witnessed a sharp rise in Jew hatred, also not seen since the Nazi's attempt to eradicate the Jewish people.
Comparisons between events of the past year and what happened during the Second World War are eerily similar and not hyperbole.
The campaign against peaceful Jewish students in our universities is a movie we have seen before. In my book Recipes From Auschwitz, I describe my mother’s experience trying to survive on a college campus in Hungary in 1930. Hordes of thugs decided that Jewish students would not be tolerated on campus. They descended in packs, surrounding young Jews, intimidating them, and often beating them. Professors often
encouraged such vicious conduct and never spoke out against the injustice they perpetrated.
Since the unprovoked attack of October 7th , similar hateful faces greeted Jewish students at Columbia, Harvard, and elsewhere. As in Europe in the 1930s, there was no one to protect the innocent Jewish students. Here, too, professors and college administrators could not even define what conduct constitutes an illegal behavior. Jewish students like my mother were unwanted in Hungary. They were told to “go back to Palestine.” Ironically, Jewish students in America are told to “get out of Palestine.”
Make up your mind.
The pro-Hamas students who created this hostile and dangerous environment are part of our “lost generation” of millennial students, who may be the most ignorant and miseducated. Parents shelling out huge sums in college tuition must be wondering just what their children have been taught for such an investment.
And to think that this generation is often touted as tomorrow's leaders!
The astounding level of their ignorance was ably revealed when asked to explain the slogan “from the River to the Sea”. “What river?” they were asked. Some were simply perplexed, while others volunteered, “The Nile?” Where did they get the information that emboldened them to demonstrate in support of the butchers of men, women and babies in Gaza? This is a generation of entitled and lazy students who are satisfied with being spoon-feed lies and misinformation by their Hamas enablers rather than do actual
research and study. Apparently, the need to belong to the ‘in crowd’ by these useful idiots clouded critical thinking or individual reasoning.
When applying for a position after graduation, I wonder if they will refer to TikTok and other social media as their undergraduate major.
Events of the past year sadly reminded me of what I described as conditions that paved the road to Auschwitz for my parents and over half a million Hungarian Jews. Today, synagogues are defaced, Jews are attacked openly, and many are reticent to display symbols of their ethnicity. My parents both described similar conditions they experienced back in those days.
Books like Recipes from Auschwitz were intended to provide a knowledge base to warn the next generation that ‘Never Again’ should not just be a clever slogan.
But here we are again.
After the Jewish State of Israel was created, we saw the rise of a new generation of Jews who pledged never again to allow Jews to be freely slaughtered. The forces of the IDF fight not only for Israel but for Jews everywhere.
Stories I heard from my parents describing the rise of Nazism encouraged me to join the Jewish Defense League in the late sixties as I, too, saw the rise of anti-Semitism creeping back. I understood that my parents did not have a realistic opportunity to fight the haters of their generation. But we who joined the JDL pledged to be different, and we were.
Today, in the face of a similar rise of this ancient hatred, I implore our young generation of millennial Jews not to accept intimidation. Neville Chamberlin has taught us that appeasement never removes the danger. Just the opposite: It increases the appetite of bullies and haters for further bad behavior. As for the Hamas supporters on campus, I urge a little education in history by reading books that will be enlightening. I strongly recommend Recipes from Auschwitz available on Amazon. Knowledge can be
empowering.
Dr. Alex Sternberg
