#The Shoah

[gingerswagfreckles]

It's become extremely obvious over the past 15 months that the only reason much of the Western world ever basically agreed that the Holocaust was bad and was willing to teach about it is because for a brief period of time, Jews and gentiles in most of Europe + America had a common enemy in the Nazis. But this acknowledgement of Nazi antisemitism was only ever the same kind of acknowledgement of antisemitism that we get right now, where people are only willing to acknowledge the antisemitism of the people they already had a completely separate reason to dislike or fear. Antisemitism in this worldview is just a tool, a secondary accusation one can lodge at someone who is already for different reasons an enemy. It is never acknowledged as a form of bigotry in and of itself, that exists on its own and not as a follow up to another "more serious" form of oppression or bigotry against gentiles.

Obviously any Holocaust education we do get in Europe and the US has very much been the result efforts by Jews and our allies in a practical sense, but it is undeniable that there was a brief 70 or so year period where the white Western consciousness found it valuable (or at least politically convenient) to recognize antisemitism as wrong and the Holocaust as horrific. As true, original-brand Nazism fades, though, we see opposition to antisemitism and the Holocaust becoming less and less valuable to the white Western identity, as actual threat of Nazi occupation fades to historical memory. Newer, rebranded neo-Nazis and leftist Hamas supporters pose little to no threat to white Western gentiles. And thus, we see now not only a growing acceptance of antisemitism, but also a growing hostility towards the idea that we should study or condemn the Holocaust as anything particularly terrible. The Holocaust no longer represents a way for gentiles to additionally condemn an ideology that also threatened them, that also killed their families, that also resulted in their own countries and communities being occupied or destroyed by foreign fascist governments. It no longer represents to them an ideology that is in any way a threat to their own safety or way of life.

This is why we see such a massive rise in Holocaust denial among Gen Z, and, even more broadly than overt Holocaust denial, the rejection of the idea that the Holocaust should be particularly studied or condemned. More and more, we see people "questioning" the "propaganda" of The Jews Crying Victim All The Time, we see young people wondering why they are so cruelly forced to acknowledge on very rare occasion the suffering that the Jewish people went through in their own homes and towns. Often this is framed not only as intellectual bravery but moral bravery, as if this new generation rejecting Holocaust education is somehow fighting back against the unfair valuing of Jewish tragedy above gentile tragedy. What they don't understand, of course, and what many Jews up until now didn't understand either, is that no one ever valued the Holocaust because it WAS a uniquely horrific event in history, because it WAS the first and only industrialized genocide that gassed millions to death on a scale we can only pray the world will never see again, because it WAS only 70 years ago and is still a living part of the history of many Western countries. No. The Holocaust was only ever given the acknowledgement it was because it represented, at one time, an ideological threat that also included gentiles, though less overtly than it targeted Jews.

That ideological threat against Jews has not gone anywhere, and is in fact is seeing a new glory day dawning with the rise of fascism worldwide and the normalization/glorification of antisemitism on the left. But this new form of antisemitic hatred, be it neo-Nazism or support for Hamas, does not represent a threat to white Western gentiles, their way of life, or the integrity of their governments. And so we as we see the decoupling of the Holocaust from something that also incidentally threatens gentiles, we see standing against the Holocaust and antisemitism as a symbol of white Western identity disappearing as fast as it came.

[gay-jewish-bucky]

80th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: "The World Has to Know That We Did Not Go Like Lambs to the Slaughter."

April 19th, 1943 - May 16th, 1943 Warsaw, Poland

“The question is not why all the Jews did not fight, but how so many of them did. Tormented, beaten, starved, where did they find the strength, spiritual and physical, to resist?” – Elie Wiesel

In the morning of April 19th, 1943, on what would be the first night of Passover, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. German troops and SS entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants to the death camps.

In the summer of 1942, as Jews living in the Warsaw ghetto were deported to Treblinka, reports that made their way back quickly made it clear that "resettlement" meant mass-murder. In response to this, Jews citizens in the ghetto began forming organized resistance forces; the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) and the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW).

Following the January 1943 success of a smaller-scale resistance preventing a deportation attempt, an act that led to the suspension of such deportation efforts by the Nazis, the residents began to secretly build subterranean tunnels and shelters in preparation for a full-scale uprising.

Throughout April rumours swirled of a final deportation of the ghetto's remaining Jews. On the 18th it became clear that German forces, reinforced with artillery and tanks, were moving in to carry out their final action. The alarm was raised, and residents retreated to their underground shelters. They would remain here for the duration of the uprising, refusing to surrender themselves to deportation.

A group of around 700 Jewish resistance fighters, made up of the ŻOB and ŻZW and led by 24-year-old Mordechai Anilevitch, joined together to stage what would be their final stand against the Nazis. These brave young people were malnourished and lacked proper military training, they were equipped with nothing but poor-quality or even homemade weapons and their bare hands.

By contrast German forces numbered 2000, they were well-equipped and well-trained and had advanced knowledge of the existence of these resistance groups.

Despite this stark imbalance, on the first day of the uprising the ragtag Jewish fighters met the invaders head on and successfully forced the Nazis to retreat outside the city walls.

Amongst all of the chaos and destruction all around them, the Jews hiding in the tunnels and bunkers gathered together to celebrate Passover with what little they had, breaking homecooked matzah and drinking illicitly obtained wine.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising held strong for a full 27 days, coming to an end on May 16th, 1943. Unable to gain a full advantage, the Germans had resorted to burning the Warsaw Ghetto to the ground in an attempt flush out those in hiding so they could be rounded up.

In the months following the official end of the uprising some Jews remained hiding out in the rubble, periodically attacking German police on patrol.

This was the largest uprising by Jews during World War II and the first significant urban revolt against German occupation in Europe. It inspired many more uprisings, especially amongst Jews in camps and Ghettos.

May Their Memories Be a Revolution

Learn More: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising | Holocaust Encyclopedia Holocaust Survivors Describe the Last Passover in the Warsaw Ghetto Tuesday, Nissan 27, 5783 / April 18, 2023 - Jewish Calendar - On This Day

[rotzaprachim]

learn!

https://yivo.org/Research

Here’s a list of resources - some about the Shoah directly, some about Jewish civilization, language, food, and culture, many about both in the way that Jewish life is so often about both. I think it’s important for allies to learn about both and that accessing the song and poetry archives can be one of the best ways to engage with the experiences of victims and survivors themselves. Remember that they were people with hopes and dreams and a culture and they were murdered for being Jews and they survived as Jews. Their Judaism was not a sidenote to their humanity. Remember that their grandchildren and great grandchildren still live and they can hear you when you talk about them. Engage with our culture, engage respectfully- read our books, cook our food, listen to our songs. מיר זײַנען דאָ!

[vox-anglosphere]

On this Holocaust Remembrance Day may we all vow to never forget.

[jellybeanium124]

you do not ever, in any circumstance, need to "hand it to the nazis" but I'm (in case this escapes containment, I am jewish) almost kind of offended at the fact that people doubt german bookkeeping? you dare say aloud "they faked the numbers, 6 million jews didn't die" when the germans take pride in their detailed note taking?? you think the nazis didn't record ever minute detail about every jew they slaughtered? you think they didn't know, on average, how many jews were dying a day, and also the average for every camp? you think the germans weren't keeping track of the numbers? the stats? you think they weren't constantly working on maximizing their german efficiency??? they took that shit seriously. they had jew killing down to a science. and you dare tell me that the numbers aren't there. don't you fucking tell me the nazis weren't proud and diligent motherfuckers about it because they absolutely were.

[gay-jewish-bucky]

International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place on the anniversary liberation of Auschwitz, this poses the non-Jews who knew full well the scale of the genocide and did nothing as the heroes who saved the Jews.

Yom HaShoah, which commemorates the atrocities committed against the Jewish people during the Holocaust, takes place on the anniversary of The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on the Hebrew calendar, this honors the Jewish heroes who rose up and fought for the survival of themselves and their people when the world would not fight for them.

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

Rather proud of the post I made for JVP Boston for Holocaust Remembrance Day!

Antizionist Jewish Shoah survivors have always been some of my heroes.

And every one of them has been attacked and discredited by Zionists.

[vox-anglosphere]

For over a decade, Britain was the safest country in Europe for Jews.

[thepoetoftime]

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

-Pastor Martin Niemöller

if a trans woman complains about the ongoing campaign of trans genocide in the united states and the uk and your response is “well it’s not TECHNICALLY genocide yet so you really shouldn’t use that word because it makes us look bad” i think you should perhaps actually just shut the fuck up and read literally any news coverage containing the words “trans” and “desantis,” just for starters

like wow so they’re not literally dragging us to camps??? it’s not literally a nazi germany style holocaust so you can’t call it genocide????? buddy do you think the fascists are BLUFFING?????????? grow the fuck up you child, because if you’re even a little bit not-cishetwhite they’re gonna use the “threat” us trans people represent as a pretext to come after you.

we call it a genocidal agenda NOW because that is THEIR STATED INTENTION. that is the ONLY logical outcome of the policies they’re proposing and the words they say and the hate they foment. we call it a genocidal agenda NOW because by the time it actually becomes a genocide it’ll be TOO FUCKING LATE

[notaplaceofhonour]

It’s maddening to find out that the scholar who first developed the idea that “Zionism is Settler Colonialism”, Fayez Sayegh, was a member of the Syrian Nazi Party during and immediately after the Holocaust, was an active participant in the Red Scare, using it to demonize Israel as a manifestation of a Global Communist Threat™️ through the height of the Cold War (true to his Nazi roots, accusing Israel of Judeo-Bolshevism) before switching to a Colonialism narrative when Post-Colonialism came in vogue in the 60s. And yet, the people I hear parroting the talking points of this anti-Communist, Ultranationalist Fascist-turned-scholar are the people who are constantly talking about how Liberal Progressives aren’t Communist enough and actually enemies because “Liberals will always side with Fascists”. Maddening.

If you’ve ever noticed how the “Zionism = Settler Colonialism” narrative eerily shares the core components of the far right’s Replacement Theory (that there are 1. Jews 2. conspiring to invade a given place and 3. replace the population with Jews), this is why; it’s because the idea that Zionism is Settler Colonialism came from a literal Nazi.

It is very literally Nazi propaganda.

[cavalierzee]

Zionists Morphing Into Nazis

During the Holocaust, Nazis would paint the Star of David on the homes of Jewish people – marking them for forced eviction.

Zionists do the same to Palestinians. The Star of David marks a Palestinian home for eviction, and then destruction.

Ousman Noor

[derseprinceoftbd]

Science, study, reason, progress were all seen as Jewish plots to destroy society (wonder where else we've seen that).

look dawg, the destruction of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute was an important moment in the Holocaust, but I feel like ever since goyische tumblr learned about it it's literally all they talk about. People have just instantly latched onto it because it's something that makes them feel connected. "Those famous pictures of Nazi book burnings are them burning gay and trans research" comes off as less of recontextualizing history and more of "omg that's me! I'm famous!". The fact that it's brought up in every conversation about the Holocaust now, even when the discussion is about the specific persecution of other groups, is highly suspect. When Jews talk about the Holocaust, we don't view the victims as people like us. They are us. They're our parents and grandparents, our great- uncles and aunts. In every generation we must see ourselves as if we left Egypt

JKR is engaging in Holocaust denial, but it's a soft sort of denial. Someone told her the Nazis hated trans people, and she responded "nuh-uh" because she didn't want to believe trans people have been around for that long. It's bad, sure, but we already knew she was a shitty person. I think it's a better opportunity to discuss the process of radicalization and closed-loop ideological thinking than to shit on the internet's favorite punching bag with your new favorite factoid. Jews right now are experiencing violent antisemitism. Bomb threats, death threats, rape threats have become the norm for a lot of us, but I have yet to see that discussed with the same fervor as JKR being shitty for the gajillionth time. If you truly want to make yourself a part of the living history of the Holocaust, you have to understand how to fight for what's important. You have to learn how to protect what you love, not just destroy what you hate. It's very important not to lose the plot here

It's crucial that we remember that the book burnings were primarily about Jews. Joseph Goebbels proclaimed in Berlin "The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end. The breakthrough of the German revolution has again cleared the way on the German path...The future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character." The German Student Union described book burnings as a "response to a worldwide Jewish smear campaign against Germany and an affirmation of traditional German values." Science, study, reason, progress were all seen as Jewish plots to destroy society (wonder where else we've seen that). Magnus Hirschfeld was persecuted because he was gay and his Institute was full of gay and trans people, yes. But it was also because he was a Jew, and a man of science who was pushing the boundaries of medical care for LGBT people. Just. something to think about

[valcaira]

It is Holocaust remembrance day. Let us all remember those who survived the Shoah and those who did not. Let us also remember the many survivors who are no longer with us today.

May their memory be a blessing.

Never again is now.

[hailruth]

leaving this here for no particular reason.

[girlactionfigure]

This week, Lily Ebert, a 100-year-old Auschwitz survivor, became a great-great-grandma.

"I never expected to survive the Holocaust. Now I have five beautiful generations. The Nazis did not win!"

From near-death at Auschwitz to five generations of Jewish life. - Dov Forman 

[gay-jewish-bucky]

Yom HaShoah (27th of Nisan): Remembering Szmul Zygielbojm

Szmul Zygielbojm (February 21st, 1895-May 12th, 1943) was a Jewish-Polish socialist leader of the Jewish Labor Movement, the Bund, and a member of the National Council of the Polish government in exile during WWII.

May, 1942, a horrifying report reached Zygielbojm from the Warsaw Bund. The report detailed the Nazi Final Solution efforts. It specifically provided details of Atkionen, extermination camps, the nature and detail of the slaughter of Jews. The report stated bluntly that some 700,000 Jews had been murdered. Zygielbojm worked to bring the human disaster to Allied and public attention.

A few months later definitive proof of the Holocaust was brought to the Polish government in Exile, the U.S., the British government and Allies about the Holocaust by Jan Karski. Zygielbojm redoubled his efforts to try and rouse public lethargy to respond to the murder of European Jewry.

He was only successful in rousing words of shock, sympathy and threats of later justice to the Nazi perpetrators but no tangible actions.

With the fall off the Warsaw Ghetto to attacking German infantry and the death of his wife and son in the Ghetto, Zygielbojm did the only thing he could do to shock public awareness.

He committed suicide.

An excerpt from his final note reads:

The responsibility for the crime of the murder of the whole Jewish nationality in Poland rests first of all on those who are carrying it out, but indirectly it falls also upon the whole of humanity, on the peoples of the Allied nations and on their governments, who up to this day have not taken any real steps to halt this crime. By looking on passively upon this murder of defenseless millions tortured children, women and men they have become partners to the responsibility. (x)

His death made international headlines for a short time, but along with his efforts to garner public attention and tangible action from the allies, it was quickly forgotten.

Bio retrieved from Find A Grave and Written by Jerry Klinger (President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation.)