Denying the Holocaust opens the door to denying the atrocities of Oct. 7, according to Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean and director of the Global Social Action Agenda for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Cooper told The Media Line that the importance of Holocaust education has only grown since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, when some 1,200 Jews were slaughtered and over 250 were taken hostage back to the Gaza Strip, making it the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust ended.
“Holocaust denial makes possible Oct. 7 denial,” Cooper said.
If they don’t have respect and empathy for living Jews, I don’t need them shedding tears for dead ones
He said the link between the two was clear at the center’s Holocaust memorial event in Jerusalem last week, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27. There, an elderly Holocaust survivor told a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre: “I don’t want UN Secretary-General António Guterres or any of the special rapporteurs or the head of the International Red Cross or women’s NGOs standing next to me at international Holocaust memorials. If they don’t have respect and empathy for living Jews, I don’t need them shedding tears for dead ones.”
Dr. Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann, a professor of European studies, media, and memory studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, also spoke with The Media Line about the effects of Oct. 7 on Holocaust commemoration.
“Oct. 7 evoked, through the nature of these genocidal crimes, memories of the Holocaust, which strongly affected both the perception of the event and also what happened afterward,” Ebbrecht-Hartmann said.
Many Jews and Israelis are struggling to understand how such a gruesome event happened even after the horrors of the Holocaust, he said. The Holocaust memorial slogan “never again” comes to mind “also because Israel was the promise that something like this would never happen again,” he said.
Ebbrecht-Hartmann stressed that the events of Oct. 7 must remind humanity that “never again” is not just a slogan, but something that needs to be implemented in everyday lives.
“It also shows that it is not possible to commemorate the Holocaust without also dealing with antisemitism,” he said.
Dr. Remko Leemhuis, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Berlin office, told The Media Line that Germany’s Jewish community has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7. He said that 2,249 antisemitic incidents have occurred in Germany since the initial Hamas attacks.
There are some universities where Jewish students are afraid even to go to class. This is not something that we only see in the US.
Leemhuis said that some violent demonstrations have been led by people of Palestinian or Arab heritage while others have been led by left-wing groups, especially at universities.
“There are some universities where Jewish students are afraid even to go to class,” he said. “This is not something that we only see in the US.”
Leemhuis said the blatancy of German antisemitism following Oct. 7 was surprising. Often antisemites “are not even trying to hide behind something like, ‘We’re only criticizing Israel,’ or ‘We’re just anti-Zionist, we’re not against the Jews,’ but it’s rather very open, like old-school anti-Semitism,” he said.
Leemhuis said that German antisemitism remains, for the most part, a popular rather than political phenomenon.
“Leaving aside the right-wing populist party, at this point, among the democratic parties, there is a very pro-Israel consensus,” he said. He added that the government and Germany’s democratic parties have been very supportive of Israel.
Although it may not have political backing, mainstream German society’s antisemitism problem is still troubling, Leemhuis said.
It is important to discuss what antisemitism is and how society responds to it
Ebbrecht-Hartmann said that antisemitism is a constantly shifting phenomenon, which “can become an existential threat.”
“It is important to discuss what antisemitism is and how society responds to it,” he said, adding that not only Jewish organizations have this responsibility.
Ebbrecht-Hartmann said that just as antisemites often deny that the Holocaust occurred in order to undermine the seriousness of antisemitism, many deny that the atrocities of Oct. 7 occurred.
“People are denying what has happened, although Hamas proudly broadcast the atrocities via social media,” he said.
He said that technology can be used to reduce such denial, with several digital initiatives already in place to commemorate the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks and collect testimonies of survivors.
“We have learned that it is necessary to document atrocities in real time,” Ebbrecht-Hartmann said.