Don't Touch My Holocaust

[Nakharar]

Ynetnews, Israel

March 20 2005

 

Don't touch my Holocaust

 

 

Cheapening of the Holocaust is also evident in our common use of it

 

 

The inauguration of the new Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem was an

impressive occasion and the museum itself is an important

contribution to the perpetuation of the Jewish people's tragedy.

 

However, in the arguments that surrounded the inauguration ceremony

and in the ensuing debate over what the museum offers and what it

doesn't, there were signs of the old Israeli battle that can be

termed `don't touch my Holocaust.'

 

It was feared that a Japanese representative would mention the

victims of the atomic bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in

his speech and so he was not invited to the ceremony.

 

Moreover, judging by the Israeli memorial institution's treatment of

other tragedies, one could be led to believe that Israel growls

in protest over the slightest hint that its exclusivity over the

Holocaust may be undermined.

 

`When France compares the Holocaust with Rwanda and Kosovo,' said the

president of the World Jewish Congress Israel Singer, `the chairman

of the French Holocaust Fund, who herself is a Holocaust survivor,

speaks out against the comparison. It's not at all certain that the

person replacing her in the future would take the same approach.'

 

What is this approach? The approach says that the Holocaust is a

singular event, because it was a planned genocide of an entire

people, carried out with meticulous bureaucracy by an advanced

Western country.

 

It can't even be compared to other incidents where millions were

massacred, beginning from the genocide of the Armenian people to the

events in Africa in recent years.

 

But beyond this approach there is something that is not aimed at

perpetuating the memory but rather at looking to the future. The

uniqueness of the Holocaust has consistently served Israel to justify

major and minor acts.

 

From its nuclear project to its aggressive military operations, from

the demand for political forgiveness toward its policies and up to

its moral judgment, Israel has taken (or some of its leaders) the

stance of `we are allowed to because we were victims of the

Holocaust.'

 

Cheapening of the Holocaust is not only expressed by forgetting or

anti-Semitism from the outside, it is also apparent in our common use

of it. Anyone opposed to Israel's policies is Hitler; anyone who is

not an admirer of ours is anti-Semitic.

 

The lesson spread and cultivated by the establishment, from within

and from without is not based on the saying the Holocaust is proof of

the infinite potential of evil hidden in mankind and thus forces us

to fight it; but rather that we deserve it because we were its

victims.

 

In this sense, it is unfortunate that the discussion surrounding the

inauguration of the new museum was also dragged into the realm of

`whose Holocausts is greater'.

 

Comparing the Holocaust to another historical event doesn't

necessarily detract from the tragedy or make us forget it.

 

And the statement that should be issued by Israel, because many of

the survivors have made it their home, and a major part of its

justification emanated from the statement of never again, the

Holocaust does indeed need to be a tragedy whose extent and lessons

are universal.

 

Its memory forces us to be more humane, more sensitive to injustice,

more apprehensive towards evil - everywhere, and not only to the evil

that threatens us.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3060758,00.html