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As antisemitic hate crimes rise, I see alarming parallels to my grandmother’s childhood during the Holocaust
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As antisemitic hate crimes rise, I see alarming parallels to my grandmother’s childhood during the Holocaust

Nathan Wolfson commemorates Yom HaShoah by remembering his family’s history in the Holocaust. He warns that increasing antisemitism from the far right poses a real threat in America.

For many children, story time with a grandparent is a moment of pure joy. But my Holocaust survivor Grandma Ester recounted dire reminders of the hatred that waits in the crevices of society, like a monster under the bed. She didn’t worry that I was too young for the most brutal and disturbing details, because she was too young when it happened to her. She would not shield me from the horror because that would have been a dishonest telling of the terrors she experienced.

My life was never the same after hearing her stories. I am burdened with the knowledge and the duty that most progeny of Holocaust survivors know too well: to keep the memory of the horrors of the Holocaust alive, or be doomed to see them happen again and again. I am alarmed by the rise of unabashed antisemitism in our culture. Since Twitter was taken over late last year by Elon Musk, who vowed to make the platform the “digital town square” for free speech by loosening content restrictions, the frequency of antisemitic tweets has more than doubled. Offline, antisemitic hate crimes rose at least 20% in 2021, and it’s believed that hate crimes further increased in 2022.

The above excerpt was originally published in Forward. Click here to view the full article.

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Author

Nathan Wolfson

Deputy Digital Director and Social Media Manager, J Street

Team

Digital Advocacy

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