Is it happening again? Columbia exhibit helps us recognize rising tide of intolerance

The winds of disturbance are whipping up around us. I hear expressions of disbelief as another synagogue or Jewish business is destroyed or Jewish cemetery ransacked. “It can’t be happening again,” has become the topic of conversation over the dinner table as the tide of anti-Semitism rises.

This is what my grandparents said in the 1930s as the rise of Hitler engulfed the European continent and many chose to stay until the winds of war would dissipate. But the war came, and Hitler mobilized his armies and his collaborators, and consequently, more than 11 million people were murdered, 6 million of them Jews. Many Americans strongly felt that this war was a European problem, not one that affected us — until Pearl Harbor. We are a small world, such that what affects Europe, Asia, Africa or any place else can and will affect us.

As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, I was aware of the deaths of our families and their experience in concentration camps. But do we really understand the mantra “Never Again”? Have we learned the signs? Are we really listening to what is happening throughout the world? Anti-Semitism has risen to levels unimaginable. French and Belgium Jews are fleeing Europe, Spanish Jews are reminded of the Inquisition, and British Jews are watching as England rewrites Holocaust history as to not “offend” the new Middle Eastern immigrants. Israel is threatened from all geographic sides, and Iran has promised to annihilate the people of Israel. Has the Western world become hardened as we watch on TV the brutal killings of innocents in Europe, in Syria, in Iraq, in Nigeria?

We in America, and particularly here in South Carolina, are far from immune to anti-Semitism and other types of discrimination. We need to teach our children in our homes the necessity for tolerance and understanding. Reinforcing these principles in the schools is equally important.

South Carolina has a government-appointed state Council of the Holocaust, and the middle school curriculum has lessons devoted to teaching the Holocaust to students. Each spring, the Columbia Holocaust Education Commission and the S.C. Council of the Holocaust receive requests for speakers and materials that address this topic. I am proud of an exhibit “Holocaust Remembered,” developed by the Columbia commission. This exhibit is a 24 pictorial and narrative display of the Holocaust timeline, facts and testimonies of Columbia Holocaust survivors and eye-witness liberators. It can be viewed at the Columbia Jewish Community Center through April 12 and at the Tree of Life Temple April 13-19. We have had hundreds of school children from around the county coming with their teachers to view, discuss and hear from a knowledgeable speaker.

Additionally, in partnership with The State, the Columbia commission has developed our second annual “Holocaust Remembered” supplement that will be distributed and available in the Sunday, April 12, newspaper. This supplement familiarizes readers with the basic history of the Holocaust and where it fits within World War II history, and it features local liberators, eye-witnesses and survivors of the Holocaust. As these elderly pass from this world, it is important that their legacy and experiences not be forgotten. The surviving generations must continue to teach the lessons of the Holocaust.

We must pay attention to the events of today. We cannot hide our heads in the sand and ignore the warning signs seen in Europe, Asia, Africa and even here in America. Allowing the same thing to happen again and again and expecting a different outcome has a definition: stupidity.

To the good people of South Carolina: Stand up and voice your opposition to intolerance. Teach tolerance to your children so that devastating events like the Holocaust will not happen to you or your loved ones. History can and does repeat itself. Let us say “Never Again” with conviction, truth and honesty, and let our noble actions speak loud and clear for all.

This story was originally published April 4, 2015 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Is it happening again? Columbia exhibit helps us recognize rising tide of intolerance."