NY Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez caused an uproar recently by referring to the situation at the southern border of the United States as follows:
” The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are – they are concentration camps – and if that doesn’t bother you...I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that we should not — that ‘Never Again’ means something.”
As we know, this sparked a heated response, and then a heated response to the response.
First the heated response. People asked basically, how can you use terminology that compares what’s happening at the border to the Holocaust? It cheapens the memory of those murdered and the experience of the survivors. By creating an analogy with the Holocaust, it misrepresents the Holocaust as well as the current situation.
The US Holocaust Museum issued a letter to the Congresswoman stating the following:
“We are deeply disturbed by the language used in your recent Instagram live video which seeks to equate the detention centers on America’s southern border with Nazi-era Concentration Camps.
“The terms “Concentration Camp” and “Never Again” are synonymous with and evocative of the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, in which 6 million European Jews were systematically denied civil and human rights due to their race and ultimately murdered in a state-sponsored genocide. As concerned as we are about the conditions experienced by migrants seeking asylum in the United States, including family separation, unusable facilities, and lack of food, water, and medical resources, the regrettable use of Holocaust terminology to describe these contemporary concerns diminishes the evil intent of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish people.”
Now the heated response to the response. Many argued that the term concentration camp doesn’t only apply to the Holocaust. It is in fact an accurate description of what is taking place at the border. And besides, what’s more important - arguing over terminology or responding to the travesty of justice and decency taking place at our border?
Waitman Wade Beorn, a lecturer at University of Virginia, wrote the following:
"What's required is a little bit of demystification of (the term) it," says Waitman Wade Beorn, a Holocaust and genocide studies historian and a lecturer at the University of Virginia. "Things can be concentration camps without being Dachau or Auschwitz. Concentration camps in general have always been designed—at the most basic level—to separate one group of people from another group. Usually, because the majority group, or the creators of the camp, deem the people they're putting in it to be dangerous or undesirable in some way.”
While considering these reactions to the Congresswomen’s comments, I asked myself, what would Elie Wiesel say? What did he say?
I found a video of Elie Wiesel speaking in 2008 at the opening of Yad Vashem’s Holocaust history museum. In that video, Wiesel does two important things. He underscores the uniqueness of the Holocaust and he indicates a major reason why survivors tell their stories.
People say that the Holocaust represents man’s inhumanity to man.
“Not so,” says Elie Wiesel. “It was not a demonstration of man’s inhumanity to man. It was a demonstration of man’s inhumanity to Jews.”
Toward the end of his speech he says the following:
“And so we go to the museum. And what should we do - weep? No. My good friends - we never tried to tell the tale to make people weep. It’s too easy. We never wanted pity.
“If we decided to tell the tale it is because we wanted the world to be a better world. And learn. And remember.”
My problem with this whole debate is that people make one of two mistakes. The first mistake is to fail to recognize the uniqueness of the Holocaust and to imply, intentionally or not, comparisons that are not accurate. Even given that the term “concentration camp” preceded the Holocaust and can technically be used, according to several scholars, to describe the current situation at the US border, using that term fails to take into account, or perhaps deliberately takes into account, the resonance that this term, followed by the phrase “never again,” has vis a vis the Holocaust.
But the second mistake people make is to fail to recognize that we must learn from the Holocaust and from other experiences of suffering how to take proactive and reactive steps to prevent suffering no matter the perpetrator, no matter the victim.
Yes, the Holocaust is unique. Yes, we should be careful how we use terminology so that we don’t make or imply inaccurate comparisons. And yes, we have an obligation to indicate when inaccurate comparisons have been implied.
But if we stop there, if we express our displeasure with the comparison but then fail to deal with the very real problem taking place right now which is a violation of American, Jewish and human values - then we are terribly mistaken. Then we are shirking our American, Jewish, human responsibilities.
Elie Wiesel wanted people to be aware of the tragedy of the Holocaust, he wanted people to be aware of it as a unique event aimed at murdering Jews. But he didn’t want to keep the Holocaust wrapped up in a precious box for people to look it with revulsion or pity and then go on with their lives. He wanted people to be aware of the Holocaust so that the world could become a better world.
Months ago, when asked by middle school students what she wanted them to learn from her experiences of the Holocaust that she shared with them, Vera Eden, longstanding Temple Israel member (sitting right here this morning) said the following: “when people are being mistreated, any people, for any reason, you need to protest.”
So if we think that all we need to do - as Americans, as Jews, as human beings - when someone uses the term “concentration camp” to describe what’s going on at our border - is to say, “that’s an unfair comparison” and whatever else we want to say - and then we’re done…
We should bear in mind that there are at least two survivors of the Holocaust - who know better than anyone who was not there the uniquely pernicious elements of the Holocaust - whose articulation of what we should learn from the Holocaust lets us know that we are not done.
The crisis at the border is real, it is a violation of our values. Adults and children have died, conditions are terrible, and it is happening on our watch.
As I’ve said before, we need to respond. After I spoke about the situation recently, a member of our congregation, following my suggestion, contacted HIAS to see if she could volunteer. HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) was founded in 1881 to aid Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe. It has since extended its efforts to include all Jews and all who have fled persecution.
If you are interested in responding to the crisis at our border, click here for a variety of ways you can help.
Why do we tell our stories? We tell our stories to honor the past, for sure. But also to impact the present and hopefully the future.
That’s something our ancestors understood when they were told to love the stranger because they were strangers in the land of Egypt.
That’s something so many Holocaust survivors understand.
That’s something we need to understand ourselves.
The major reason we tell our stories is to help create a better world.
Originally shared with the Temple Israel of Great Neck community on June 29, 2019
Elie Wiesel speaking at Yad Vashem in 2008
” The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are – they are concentration camps – and if that doesn’t bother you...I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that we should not — that ‘Never Again’ means something.”
As we know, this sparked a heated response, and then a heated response to the response.
First the heated response. People asked basically, how can you use terminology that compares what’s happening at the border to the Holocaust? It cheapens the memory of those murdered and the experience of the survivors. By creating an analogy with the Holocaust, it misrepresents the Holocaust as well as the current situation.
The US Holocaust Museum issued a letter to the Congresswoman stating the following:
“We are deeply disturbed by the language used in your recent Instagram live video which seeks to equate the detention centers on America’s southern border with Nazi-era Concentration Camps.
“The terms “Concentration Camp” and “Never Again” are synonymous with and evocative of the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, in which 6 million European Jews were systematically denied civil and human rights due to their race and ultimately murdered in a state-sponsored genocide. As concerned as we are about the conditions experienced by migrants seeking asylum in the United States, including family separation, unusable facilities, and lack of food, water, and medical resources, the regrettable use of Holocaust terminology to describe these contemporary concerns diminishes the evil intent of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish people.”
Now the heated response to the response. Many argued that the term concentration camp doesn’t only apply to the Holocaust. It is in fact an accurate description of what is taking place at the border. And besides, what’s more important - arguing over terminology or responding to the travesty of justice and decency taking place at our border?
Waitman Wade Beorn, a lecturer at University of Virginia, wrote the following:
"What's required is a little bit of demystification of (the term) it," says Waitman Wade Beorn, a Holocaust and genocide studies historian and a lecturer at the University of Virginia. "Things can be concentration camps without being Dachau or Auschwitz. Concentration camps in general have always been designed—at the most basic level—to separate one group of people from another group. Usually, because the majority group, or the creators of the camp, deem the people they're putting in it to be dangerous or undesirable in some way.”
While considering these reactions to the Congresswomen’s comments, I asked myself, what would Elie Wiesel say? What did he say?
I found a video of Elie Wiesel speaking in 2008 at the opening of Yad Vashem’s Holocaust history museum. In that video, Wiesel does two important things. He underscores the uniqueness of the Holocaust and he indicates a major reason why survivors tell their stories.
People say that the Holocaust represents man’s inhumanity to man.
“Not so,” says Elie Wiesel. “It was not a demonstration of man’s inhumanity to man. It was a demonstration of man’s inhumanity to Jews.”
Toward the end of his speech he says the following:
“And so we go to the museum. And what should we do - weep? No. My good friends - we never tried to tell the tale to make people weep. It’s too easy. We never wanted pity.
“If we decided to tell the tale it is because we wanted the world to be a better world. And learn. And remember.”
My problem with this whole debate is that people make one of two mistakes. The first mistake is to fail to recognize the uniqueness of the Holocaust and to imply, intentionally or not, comparisons that are not accurate. Even given that the term “concentration camp” preceded the Holocaust and can technically be used, according to several scholars, to describe the current situation at the US border, using that term fails to take into account, or perhaps deliberately takes into account, the resonance that this term, followed by the phrase “never again,” has vis a vis the Holocaust.
But the second mistake people make is to fail to recognize that we must learn from the Holocaust and from other experiences of suffering how to take proactive and reactive steps to prevent suffering no matter the perpetrator, no matter the victim.
Yes, the Holocaust is unique. Yes, we should be careful how we use terminology so that we don’t make or imply inaccurate comparisons. And yes, we have an obligation to indicate when inaccurate comparisons have been implied.
But if we stop there, if we express our displeasure with the comparison but then fail to deal with the very real problem taking place right now which is a violation of American, Jewish and human values - then we are terribly mistaken. Then we are shirking our American, Jewish, human responsibilities.
Elie Wiesel wanted people to be aware of the tragedy of the Holocaust, he wanted people to be aware of it as a unique event aimed at murdering Jews. But he didn’t want to keep the Holocaust wrapped up in a precious box for people to look it with revulsion or pity and then go on with their lives. He wanted people to be aware of the Holocaust so that the world could become a better world.
Months ago, when asked by middle school students what she wanted them to learn from her experiences of the Holocaust that she shared with them, Vera Eden, longstanding Temple Israel member (sitting right here this morning) said the following: “when people are being mistreated, any people, for any reason, you need to protest.”
So if we think that all we need to do - as Americans, as Jews, as human beings - when someone uses the term “concentration camp” to describe what’s going on at our border - is to say, “that’s an unfair comparison” and whatever else we want to say - and then we’re done…
We should bear in mind that there are at least two survivors of the Holocaust - who know better than anyone who was not there the uniquely pernicious elements of the Holocaust - whose articulation of what we should learn from the Holocaust lets us know that we are not done.
The crisis at the border is real, it is a violation of our values. Adults and children have died, conditions are terrible, and it is happening on our watch.
As I’ve said before, we need to respond. After I spoke about the situation recently, a member of our congregation, following my suggestion, contacted HIAS to see if she could volunteer. HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) was founded in 1881 to aid Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe. It has since extended its efforts to include all Jews and all who have fled persecution.
If you are interested in responding to the crisis at our border, click here for a variety of ways you can help.
Why do we tell our stories? We tell our stories to honor the past, for sure. But also to impact the present and hopefully the future.
That’s something our ancestors understood when they were told to love the stranger because they were strangers in the land of Egypt.
That’s something so many Holocaust survivors understand.
That’s something we need to understand ourselves.
The major reason we tell our stories is to help create a better world.
Originally shared with the Temple Israel of Great Neck community on June 29, 2019
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