Page One

Remember Holocaust, fight anti-Semitism

Devora Liss
Monday April 08, 2002

To the Editor: 

 

This past week, the Hillel building was vandalized. This was not the first time hatred has touched the Jewish community at Berkeley. Students have been beaten and spat at, all within recent memory. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism has happened in the past and will inevitably happen in the future. 

Next week, Jews worldwide will commemorate the memory of the 6 million European Jews who were systematically exterminated during the 1940s. The Holocaust did not happen overnight. Years of brushed-off anti-Semitism and denial enabled the Jews to be oblivious until the very last minute, until they were forced to face the ghastly chimneys of Auschwitz concentration camp. 

Not only must we remember the victims, we also must remember the circumstances that brought to their annihilation. Every time a hate crime was committed, someone chose silence. Today, we too are looking the other way while a deplorable crime has been committed in the heart of our community. 

If we close our eyes to the hatred and do not act to eradicate it, we are no better than Europe; turning away while human beings were being slaughtered. 

 

Devora Liss 

Berkeley