The image that sticks in my mind from the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C., was the man wearing a shirt that said “Camp Auschwitz.” My blood froze when I saw it. How can he proudly wear that shirt and smile at the camera? What does that despicable shirt have to do with a so-called stolen election? That is blatant anti-Semitism!
In his recently published Holocaust Siddur, Rabbi Dr. Bernard Rosenberg quotes Rabbi Louis Kaplan: “If the Torah bids us to remember what a ruthless enemy did to our people in Moses’ time (“Remember what Amalak did to you…” p.89) then we surely should remember what a more satanic enemy did to our people in the 20th Century.
Yet, many of today’s youth do not recognize the significance of a shirt that says “Camp Auschwitz.” Revisionist language has been at work and strongly suggested that the Holocaust didn’t really happen. As Jews, we should teach our children what Auschwitz represents and be cautious to any anti-Semitism hints.
Today in America we hear those who tell us that, “Jews control the banks, or Jews control the press, or government.” We should remain vigilant and not permit the smallest seed of anti-Semitism to take root because quiet little lies grow to be big loud lies. It was Hitler who proved that if you repeat a lie often enough, people start to believe it.
Our 45th president repeated the lie that he won the 2020 election, and many of our senators supported that lie. The people who attacked on Jan. 6 believed they were fighting for justice for the president whose election was stolen by Joe Biden, the man who had been rightfully elected president.
As Jews, we must remember the lessons of the Holocaust, and we must continue to fight the big lie.
Alan and Jackye Goldberg
Overland Park, Kan.