Never Again: Our Unfinished Humanity
Holocaust Memorial Day isn’t just about the past and honoring the memories of those who were murdered. It’s about our unfinished humanity in 2025.
As someone whose family was almost annihilated in the Holocaust, I’m tired of seeing people minimize or deny the Holocaust’s horror and its ongoing relevance in today’s world.
Here are 5 ways to stand against hate:
1. Don’t trivialize. Think twice before making inappropriate jokes or careless comparisons to the Third Reich. Before you share that Hitler cartoon or Nazi photo, recognize that using Jewish trauma for entertainment (or even education) can be painful and triggering for many Jews.
2. Educate yourself about genocides past and present. Don’t conflate genocide with discrimination or other forms of prejudice. The crime of genocide is the act or intent to deliberately and systematically annihilate an entire people. We honor the memories of the 6 million Jews who were murdered, as well as the legacies of those who endured and survived, when we remember that "Never again" means "Never again for everyone"
3. Challenge Holocaust myths and misconceptions. Don’t repeat the myth that “ordinary Germans” were passive bystanders who looked the other way as their Jewish neighbors were targeted, persecuted, and eventually murdered. The Holocaust never would have happened without millions of Germans and citizens of other nations *actively* collaborating with the Nazi regime.
4. Center Jewish people. During the Holocaust, 2 out of every 3 European Jews were murdered through appalling mistreatment, mass shootings and gassings, and specially designed killing centers. My call for centering Jewish lives does NOT deny the suffering of millions of non-Jews during the Holocaust or diminish the scope of Nazi human rights atrocities, such as the Roma genocide. My argument is that an unwillingness to understand the Holocaust through Jewish experience perpetuates rising anti-Jewish hate today.
5. Learn about Holocaust history. In 2020, an alarming 63% of Millennial and Gen Z survey respondents were not aware that 6 million Jews were systematically murdered in the Holocaust. Nearly 20% of Millennial and Gen Z New Yorkers believe Jewish people caused the Holocaust. I recommend the resources at the US Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, Facing History and Ourselves, and the USC Shoah Foundation.
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Are you interested in bringing these important conversations to your team, organization, or classroom? Contact me and let’s work together to mitigate anti-Jewish bias and the alarming rise of antisemitism.
ID: Visitors gather near the gate rail entrance, of Auschwitz Birkenau, a Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland. Image credit: shutterstock.
