I grew up in communist Prague in a family where both parents were Holocaust survivors. Both circumstances left marks on me. Living with parents who went through the Holocaust was difficult at times and my experience with communism added additional stress.
No, my parents did not end up in concentration camps; but spending time in hiding was traumatic, especially for my mother. She spoke very little about her and her family’s time in the mountains of Slovakia where they and other refugees were hunted by Nazi and Slovakian fascist troops aided by German shepherds, where they slept on snow, many times hungry and terrified that they did not have enough money so local peasants would not betray them. Only once she mentioned one atrocity: witnessing the murder of a baby ripped from the mother’s arms. But she did not have strength to finish the story.
My mom was marked for life—she panicked when seeing a dog, even a small one and on leash. She always worried when a family member was late and was ready to call the police after a few minutes of waiting. Today she would be diagnosed with PTSD. And perhaps that would go for my father as well: only 60 years after the war, he mentioned he lost an aunt and an uncle in a concentration camp—relatives of whom I have never heard before or after.
After their return home from mountains, my mom and her family were astonished that many people, especially those who actively collaborated with fascist authorities, never heard of the Holocaust; they were surprised that some Jews came back. My grandfather lost his business to “Aryanization,” the war-time theft of Jewish property by “Aryans.” He was able to recover it—until 1948, when it was nationalized by communists. Still, the family soon discovered that some of their remaining property, such as furniture, was looted and was standing in offices of former fascists who reinvented themselves into enthusiastic communists. My mom even noticed women walking in the streets wearing her dresses.
In 1971, my parents published a collection of stories about music and wartime Jewish experience, some based on my mother’s recollections. The book, called Song for the Day of Atonement, was immediately confiscated without a single word of explanation. I have always wondered, “Was it because of the Holocaust connection?” I never found out, but copies from the original and only edition are available in public libraries throughout post-communist Czechia.
As a small child, I heard my parents discussing who was Jewish—that was the most important information about a new acquaintance or friend. Israel was on their plate often, especially when somebody managed to emigrate or escape there. Otherwise, the Holocaust was mentioned, but not discussed in communist Czechoslovakia, though The Diary of Anne Frank was translated and read.
The famous Jewish Museum in Prague consisting of several old synagogues, including the Altneuschul and the old Jewish cemetery in the old Jewish quarter, was well preserved as a source of Western currency supplied by tourists, many of them from West Germany. The museum was filled with Jewish ritual items and memorabilia collected by Nazis for the purpose of establishing a museum of “decadent” culture. Theresienstadt was well maintained—the same tourists coming there as well.
My parents started taking us to a synagogue and the Jewish community center in 1967 when “socialism with a human face,” a slogan of the Prague Spring, was brewing to be born in January of 1968 and being extinguished by the Soviet invasion in August. After that, being Jewish and discussing the Holocaust became completely taboo for two more decades. In schools we were presented with three groups of enemies faced by communist countries: “American Imperialists,” “German Revanchists” (Germans expelled from the Sudetenland in 1945) and, yes, “Zionists”—we Jews! Israel was vilified and old people were not allowed to visit their relatives living in Israel they had not seen in decades. Jewish composers, such as Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Gustav Mahler, were never performed. Franz Kafka and Franz Werfel—two Prague-born, German-speaking Jewish writers—were not published in new editions. But the tourists continued coming and the Jewish Museum stayed open.
Only once she mentioned one atrocity: witnessing the murder of a baby ripped from the mother’s arms. But she did not have strength to finish the story.
I came to Canada in 1976. I was surprised by the vibrant and free Jewish life, which was a totally novel experience. Today I am surprised and dismayed by what’s happening in Canada with anti-Semitism spreading like wildfire and with the inaction of the Canadian government; and, until recently, I was grateful for moving to the U.S. some years ago. My gratitude went far, but not anymore. Anti-Israel and anti-Zionist propaganda turns out to be a purely anti-Semitic enterprise and, together with total distortion and inversion of the Holocaust, has been spreading throughout the world and infecting the U.S. as well.
According to Warren Kinsella, the author of Digital Intifada, preparations by Hamas and associates to besmirch Israel with claims of crimes against Palestinians starting with the “Naqba” and culminating in accusations of “genocide” and portraying Israel and Jews as Nazis and Palestinians as their victims have been made for decades. Hamas, et al.—like their communist spy handlers before them—have hijacked and mastered infiltrating the Internet and social media, managing to manipulate unsuspecting, mostly young, people into buying into their lies. Constant exposure to false messages together with ignorance of history through messaging—X, TikTok, Twitch, and other sites—convinced people that Jews and Israel are evil.
After more than 80 years since the end of the Second World War, the Holocaust has become ancient history, especially with the number of Holocaust survivors rapidly declining and many people happy to hear that if Jews are genocidal then, perhaps, they deserved what they got.
And, perhaps, various European governments feel relieved from the guilt they have carried for their complicity in letting Jews perish, or at least not doing more to save them. We should not forget that, for the last two millennia, European history is tainted with widespread anti-Semitism. Jews were accused of deicide (the murder of Jesus), using the blood of Christian children in baking matzah, and in spreading the bubonic plague to list just the most outrageous claims. It is hard to shake off old habits.
In addition, the emergence of large and restless Muslim minorities in Europe pressures European governments into reprimands and sanctions of Israel. The absurdity of European actions appears nonsensical, but is, nevertheless, expanding. In times when anti-Israel protests are becoming more threatening and outrightly anti-Semitic, when Jews are called Nazis and Palestinians their victims, when the war in Gaza is called a “genocide” and compared to the Holocaust, the understanding of the real Holocaust is gone and Jews and their institutions and synagogues are attacked and subjected to physical abuse and destruction on the streets of European and Canadian cities.
You would think that leaders of those countries and E.U. would strongly come against these hate crimes, but, no, they don’t. There is silence, limited police actions, or worthless proclamations by some officials that these hate crimes are “not acceptable.” None of this is followed by action, only by silence. Pro-Hamas protesters are allowed to roam free, defended by authorities as “free speech.” That Jews are afraid to walk on the streets of London, Amsterdam, Toronto, and even New York is becoming normal. Authorities are either afraid to interfere, or they tacitly approve of increasingly more violent activity. Not many politicians and leaders feel threatened by such attacks and are more interested in keeping Islamists as their voters.
Some European countries found a scapegoat for their problems identified by pro-Hamas mobs—Israel. The most recent example is the demand by France and the U.K. for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon. The French Foreign Minister requested a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting to stop Israel’s defensive activity in Lebanon. One would suggest that France should condemn Hezbollah for its aggression against Israel rather than playing “benevolent” neo-colonialist in Lebanon, its former colony. The Italian premiere Giorgia Meloni, together with other European leaders, is calling out Israel for mistreatment of members of the most recent Gaza flotilla, that these people are entitled “human dignity.” It did not cross her mind that the flotilla people had no respect for Israelis and were only interested in anti-Israel propaganda (while having sex and doing drugs). It did not occur to her that Jews attacked in or expelled from Italian establishments and a gay Jewish group chased out of a pride parade in Rome also deserve protection and acknowledgement of their human dignity.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that he appointed a Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality, and Inclusion to combat anti-Semitism. It sounds nice until one notices who the members are—at least one of them is a Muslim apologist for terrorist organizations. I think that I know what this council will advise to fight: “Islamophobia.” Does his declaration that the measures, as reported in the Canadian Jewish News, do not mean “curtailing freedom of expression” and “are not constraints on legitimate criticism of any government on any subject anywhere” imply that the anti-Israel protests may continue and may include harassment of people living in predominantly Jewish residential areas of Toronto and other Canadian cities and will be still be considered “free speech?”
Unfortunately, current events in the U.S. do not promise good outcomes either. Violent protests near synagogues, particularly in New York City, intend to raise fear in congregants and discourage them from organizing and attending events about Israel. This is also called “free speech.”
What is even more worrisome is that not only many candidates, mostly on the Democratic side, running for Congress in midterm elections are either disavowing Israel and even expressing anti-Semitic views, but that they are supported by vile anti-Semites, such as Hasan Piker. And what is even more ominous is that they are endorsed by mainstream members of Congress, such as Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and the less mainstream but vocal and influential Bernie Sanders.
These supporters are deceiving themselves by acknowledging that though some of these candidates are problematic (e.g., Graham Platner) but insisting that election of these candidates is vital to turn the Congress Democratic. I am not very optimistic, especially if people are constantly exposed to people like Hasan Piker and Tucker Carlson (and many more). Why the New York Times serving as a platform for these people is unclear to me.
This might be good time for Jewish voters who, for the most part vote, traditionally for Democratic hopefuls to switch sides or at least not vote for certain candidates. We need to hope that voters know better than our current Democratic senators and representatives and will use their sechel (sixth sense).
