At the center of the Dachau concentration camp is situated a monument of glass and stone, upon which in numerous languages are written the words "Never again." A similar monument that bears the oath so many of us have repeated over the years at this time of year can also be found at the center of the site of the Treblinka death camp.
But 80 years after the Holocaust, it seems that the time has come to add a question mark to this oath.
In Europe, as well as among radical groups in the United States, Jew-hatred runs rampant and displays of anti-Semitism in its various forms have broken out with increasing frequency. At times it is religious hatred, other times it is cultural or race-based. In still other instances, this Jew hatred is of a socio-economic nature.
But these manifestations of hatred are of minor concern. Since the Holocaust, there have been and continue to be those among our enemies that publicly state that the plan for our annihilation remains in place. There are those who find this fact difficult to accept, in particular, the fact that the nation now residing in Zion to a great extent shapes its relationship with the present based on the lessons of the past.
One of these people was the late Professor Yehuda Elkana, himself a Holocaust survivor, who headed the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas at Tel Aviv University. In the 1980s, Elkana rejected the use of the memory of the past as a political argument, which he said was akin to having the dead participate in the democratic process of life.
There are many in our generation who share Elkana's view. They do not understand that the directive to remember is not aimed at spreading or disseminating hate but rather ensuring the very existence and continuation of life, indeed at ensuring the Holocaust is never perpetrated again. The way to achieve this is to ask and research and demand and examine and almost continuously ponder: Will this truly never happen again?
A world that does not rise up
As long as there are people walking around who are willing to act on and promote Nazi race theory and the hatred of Jews, this question is not only legitimate but vital. After the Holocaust, it was Jerusalem Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini and Arab Liberation Army field commander Fawzi al-Qawuqji, who spoke of the "final solution being the total annihilation of all the Jews."
Around the time of the 1967 Six-Day War, it was the leaders of Arab states or their mouthpieces who spoke of and disseminated their doctrine in this spirit. In our generation, Iran's leaders speak of this openly and large portions of the "enlightened" world close their ears to their remarks. The Islamic State phenomenon, too, which is very reminiscent of Nazi ideology, has yet to leave this world.
It has been said that the world will never again remain silent or fail to act. But how can one make this claim when over the past few decades, in various places across the world, millions have been murdered by their enemies as the world responded, responds and will in all likelihood continue to respond with silence.
It is enough in this context to note the West Pakistan army's murder of 3 million Muslims and Hindus in Eastern Bengal in 1971, the genocide of 2 million Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge regime, the mass murder of some half a million people in Darfur in Western Sudan since 2003 and the 400,000 people murdered in the bloody Syrian civil war.
The world did not and does not truly rise up against these atrocities, just as it did not rise up against the genocide of the Jews. There is no real reason to assume it would take any significant action if, heaven forbid, the existence of the Jewish people in Israel or around the world was under threat.
The words "never again" must, therefore, be presented in our generation not just as an oath or a promise but as an incessant clarification and a question that must continually be asked.
