An Ominous Yom HaShoah Warning

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When I first visited the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp two decades ago, I was struck by its proximity to the surrounding city of Lublin, Poland. The camp is so close to neighboring homes that one cannot help but realize that the sights, smells, and horrors of the Holocaust must have unfolded in plain sight of the people of Lublin, who were unable or unwilling to do anything about it until the Soviets liberated Majdanek in July 1944.

Hitler created a continent of bystanders who stood by as genocide unfolded over several years. Even before implementing the Final Solution, Hitler systematically dismantled Germany’s democracy following his appointment as Chancellor in 1933, and, with few exceptions, Germans stood by and allowed it to happen. The rise of Nazism, which laid the groundwork for the Holocaust, demonstrated that authoritarianism does not emerge overnight; it unfolds over time. Like frogs boiling, the danger posed by tyranny is not perceived by its victims until it’s too late.

On Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, we mourn for and remember the six million Jews lost in the Holocaust and renew our commitment to “never again.” We have a collective obligation to ensure that nothing like the Holocaust ever happens again, which was challenged by the horrors of October 7, the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Even today, we’re challenged by this obligation as 59 hostages remain in Gaza, where they have languished and suffered at the hands of terrorists for 567 days. It has been 567 days too many, and they must be released.

This week, as we mourn for those lost in the Holocaust, we also reflect on the present-day challenges of honoring our solemn obligation of “never again.” While no two moments in history are the same, we can and must learn from the past to ensure the darkest moments of history are never repeated.

With this in mind, we must consider the parallels between Hitler’s consolidation of power and Donald Trump’s first 100 days. Examples include banning books, censoring the media, extorting law firms, decimating the civil service, threatening academic independence and annexation of neighboring countries, urging federal government employees to report “anti-Christian bias,” assuming control over cultural centers and independent think tanks, detaining and deporting legal residents without due process, using dehumanizing language against immigrants and others, and weaponizing the levers of government against political opponents.

A warning regarding these parallels was courageously conveyed by Holocaust survivor and former ADL director Abe Foxman at this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Capitol earlier this week. He stated, “As a [Holocaust] survivor, my antenna quivers when I see books being banned, when I see people being abducted in the streets, when I see government trying to dictate what universities should teach and whom they should teach. As a survivor who came to this country as an immigrant, I’m troubled when I hear immigrants and immigration being demonized.”

Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, who also spoke at the event, recognized the Holocaust as “a failure of humanity.” But it was also a failure of government – both the German government, which collapsed as a democracy under Hitler, and the U.S. and other governments, which did not act fast enough to save Jews and stop the Final Solution. It was a failure of government officials in positions like Lutnick’s, who witnessed wrongdoing, illegalities, inhumanity, and growing dangers to society and refused to take action. It was also a failure of everyday people, including those in Lublin, who stood silently by.

Years from now, students of American history will look back at Donald Trump’s first 100 days and ask us all what we did to stop him. Our answers will vary, as some of us are protesting, writing to members of Congress, showing up to town halls, organizing around elections, and refusing to tune out as the news worsens with each passing day. Some of us may not know what to do, and some may be paralyzed by fear of retribution, a hallmark of authoritarianism.

Rather than simply ask how ordinary citizens could have looked away in the past, we should all be driven to action today. Our organization, the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), provides opportunities for you to take action; we’re organizing, engaging, advocating with elected officials, and electing those who share our values in upcoming elections.

We’re not standing by. We will not be silent. We will not be bystanders to the demise of American democracy. We will not cower. And we hope you’ll join us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America