I wasn’t planning to send out a newsletter today. But after the heinous violence that happened in Israel this weekend, I feel compelled, as an author who writes about WWII, to say what Hamas did to the Jewish people was absolutely unacceptable. I don’t know how I can go on publishing books about WWII if I don’t say something now. It would feel wrong, as if I’m unwilling to stand behind the stories I write, and the themes I convey through my books.
Because of the books I write, I know more than most about what happened to Jewish people during the Holocaust. As WWII readers, I’m sure you know more too. It is from this standpoint that I share my thoughts with you today.
When we read WWII fiction, we are shielded by time so that we can learn about the horrible things that happened at a safe distance. We can seek to know and understand, without these atrocities affecting our lives. The Hama’s attack on Israel this weekend dismantled that shield. We witnessed first-hand the same kind of inhumane violence that happened the night of Kristallnacht. A wrinkle of difference is, that night, the Nazis arrested Jewish men and sent them to concentration camps. The Hamas terrorists kidnapped Jewish women and children, and are holding them hostage. In captivity, the Jewish victims are brutalized. How? We can read about the history of it in the former case, and easily imagine it in the latter.
For me, this inhuman infliction of violence came at the heel of my deep-dive research into Dachau for my upcoming release. After the Holocaust, the world said, “Never Again”. Yet, it is happening again. It is happening again so soon that one of the victims kidnapped and taken hostage by Hamas is a Holocaust survivor. She must have been a child during WWII. What must be going through her mind, living in a world where the beginning and the twilight years of her life are bookended by such hatred against Jews?
For a long time now, our free world societies have been bandying around the words “hate”, “fascists,” and “Nazis” online and on social media for pointless internet spats, while the rest of us who are not terminally online roll our eyes and move along to go about more important business. So often, these words are tossed out carelessly at the slightest offense, to the point where they are so watered down, they’ve lost all meaning.
But if we have seen any of the video clips or read any of the harrowing accounts of what the Hamas terrorists did this weekend, we will know for real what “hate” actually looks like. It is a kind of hate that someone can look at another innocent human being, including the infirm and babies, and still be so completely stripped of empathy and conscience, that he can wield a deadly weapon to take the other person’s life. It is a kind of hate that someone feels, so they can chant in victory in a truck while they desecrate and spit on the limping, very likely lifeless, bare body of a young woman they attacked.
As a writer, I always try to get into the minds of my fictional characters, including my villains. Seeing this footage, I cannot in any way understand the mind of anyone who can feel this kind of hate. I cannot relate.
The videos going around online are especially chilling because they do not resemble at all the type of make-believe violence or evil we see on TV and in films. There is no accompaniment of dramatic music. The attackers are not larger than life. The victims are not glamourized actors and actresses. In real life, the people waging the attack appear like anyone who could roam past us on a regular day on the street. Take away the weapons and militia gear, and they appear like any nobody. Just some low-quality men of nothing extraordinary. Hannah Arendt’s words proved true again. The banality of evil is frightening.
In the immediate aftermath, protests erupted around the world. Depending on who you ask, these protests are described as either pro-Palestinian marches, or anti-Semitic demonstrations. Regardless of politics, I cannot understand the mindset of these protestors either. I have so many questions.
Firstly, whatever issues or grievances one might have against Israel or its policies, how can someone’s first reaction upon seeing such unspeakable terror not be sympathy for those who were murdered and harmed? What level of insensitivity must a person have so that participating in a protest against Israel is what he or she would rush to do after what we’ve all seen? Could we not give the victims and their families a moment to mourn? How is this the right time to further exacerbate their pain?
Supposed someone felt legitimately justified to air their opposition to the Israeli government and policies, regardless of the further pain they are causing to the victims. Was it not obvious that such protests would naturally draw out racists against Jews? Indeed, anti-Semitic racists have joined the fray. We have reports from Australia of protestors calling for “Gas the Jews” and “Kill the Jews” in front of the Sydney Opera House. We have photos of a protestor in New York in Times Square holding up the symbol of the Swastika. People who claimed they are protesting for justified reasons were literally standing with racists and Nazis. Are there no better ways to express one’s opposition than to literally stand with racists and Nazis calling for the killing of Jews?
Supposed someone felt legitimately concerned for the Palestinians living in Gaza, and responded by immediately calling for Israel to cease fire. Why are none of these calls accompanied by calls for the Hamas to release the hostages? Why are none of these calls also made to the allied countries of Iran and Palestine in the Middle East to cease fire and stand down, with the same expressed concerns for more potential harm to Jewish victims?
Coming back to Kristallnacht. The Nazis, too, claimed a justification of grievance for their violence against the Jewish people that night. Two days earlier, a Polish Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan, shot and killed German Nazi party member and diplomatic official Ernst von Rath. Why are we back to thinking there are justifiable reasons to wage a surprise massacre of Jewish civilians?
At multiple universities this weekend, leading with Harvard, students gathered to protest, purporting to be in support of Palestine. Thirty student groups signed the letter of protest, which I’m linking to. In the letter, there is not a single statement of sympathy to the hundreds of Israeli victims who died, and the many more who were hurt and captured. The world said, “Never Again”, but our youths have already forgotten, if they ever knew in the first place. A recent poll from 2020 found that a shocking majority of Millennials and GenZ lacks knowledge about the Holocaust. I know the demographics of my readers skew heavily toward readers age sixty-five and up. Though we said, “Never Again”, what happened is already fast fading from the world’s collective memories.
I think this is why it is so important for those of us who know more about WWII and the Holocaust to share what we know, and to say we truly meant it when we said: “Never Again”. If even we can’t do that, then who else is left?
Currently and in the coming days, there are and will be many news reports and articles written about this from all angles and perspectives. Wherever you get your news, I want to recommend one more if you plan to keep updated on how things will unfold on this matter. As you all know, I now publish my newsletter on Substack. Substack is a fantastic platform with writers publishing on all varieties of topics. One Substack I’m reading to follow the continual development in Israel is The Free Press. Since Saturday, TFP released a series of articles reporting in depth what is happening on the ground in Israel. I will link to two of their articles that I think are informative and poignant. You can read more of their reports in The Free Press. Normally, TFP articles are for paid subscribers only. But their team has decided to make all their reports and articles on this attack in Israel free to the public.
Every Sunday, The Free Press publishes a column by British author and commentator Douglas Murray called Things Worth Remembering, in which he discusses a poem. This Sunday, he wrote this piece, in which he tried to make sense of the evil we humankind inflict on each other.
For us WWII readers, and that includes me, let’s do what we can to encourage young people to learn about WWII and the Holocaust. If nothing else, buy the youths in our families a WWII book they might find interesting, or watch a WWII movie together with them.
Other ways to carry on the promise of Never Again:
If you can and feel comfortable doing so, give the Israeli victims of Hamas’s attack a public shout-out of support.
If you are a person of faith, say a prayer for the victims who died, or are still in danger, and their families including orphans.
If you’re not religious, light a candle, and take a moment to remember those who fell victim to what must have been a most frightening death.
While these small acts will not change what will be happening on the international political scene, I think they still matter because the people who were harmed are fellow human beings, and they deserve to be thought of and remembered.
Peace to all,
Alexa Kang
Very well said.
You have put into words how many of us struggle to put together to explain how we see what is happening