this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
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A group of eight Holocaust survivors drew parallels between the current political climate and that of Germany in the 1930s. Some of them condemned the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).

Eight Holocaust survivors have urged young people to shun far-right parties and vote to protect democracy at the upcoming European Union elections.

"For millions of you, the European elections are the first election in your lives. For many of us, it could be the last," read the open letter, unveiled in Berlin on Tuesday.

"We couldn't stop it back then. But you can today," the eight authors wrote.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I hope they will be able to do the same for the Israeli youth, because there the theocratic fashists are in power right now already.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 6 months ago (2 children)

They're doing this because they're German, and they are trying to influence politics in the place they live.

[–] FlyingSquid 25 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Also, the person you talked to seems to think the Holocaust was solely a genocide of Jews with a comment like that. Any of those eight could have been Roma, LGBT+, disabled... all kinds of possibilities.

Israel wants to be connected to the Holocaust in a deeper way than it should be. And I say that as a Jewish person.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The persons great grandfather died in Auschwitz because he was fighting for a independent Silesia.

But yeah, ...

[–] FlyingSquid 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Cool. Half my family died in the Holocaust. I still don't associate it with 2024 Israel like Netanyahu wants.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Are you saying German holocaust survivers should only protest German fashists and not Israeli fashists because if they do then they associate the Holocaust with Israel and thus help Netanjahu with it?

I have a hard time understanding your position.

[–] FlyingSquid 10 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Why exactly would Israelis care what they had to say? Unless the answer is "because they're Jews and the Holocaust is a Jewish thing," I can't think of a reason.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I mean this is still about the EU-elections and not Germany specific. The far right is a huge problem in all of Europe and some of the worst already dictator like fascists like Orban not only seek to actively undermine the EU wherever they can, but they’re also best buddies with Israeli politicians.

I think it’s important to remember as you said that the holocaust wasn’t only about Jews and that Zionism doesn’t equate Judaism, but to draw a connection between fascists in Europe and fascists in Israel who happen to commit genocide right now doesn’t seem so far fetched in general.

[–] nyctre 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

For the same reason young Germans should care. For the same reason everyone should care. Because fascism is bad and everyone should listen to these people and vote against it. Op simply pointed out that there's a pretty fascistic government in power right now in Israel and hopefully the youth(and everyone else for that matter) will take some inspiration and vote against it.

At least that's what I take from that.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We're not talking about "should," are we?

[–] nyctre 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

My bad. You're right. Then yeah, no, they wouldn't. Cause the message won't reach the most of them. They would care if they understood that these people are survivors of a different fascist government. They're what Palestinians might be 80 years from now. It's history. Except they can learn it from living people instead of books.

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I agree. Also, if I were an Israeli who agreed with the genocide (I'm not and I absolutely don't) and German Holocaust survivors came to me to tell me that they survived a genocide and they know how bad genocide is and this is a genocide and it needs to stop, I would probably think that this is a different situation and they don't know because they don't live here. It's pretty easy to dismiss something like this if you're determined to go ahead with an atrocity.

[–] nyctre 2 points 6 months ago

Of course. But the more people(and different people too, not just journalists and politicians) tell them, the more likely it is for the message to finally go through

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Oh there's a simple reason why Israelis should care: Because sliding into fascism is a calamity for everyone, yes, also for the perpetrating people. Maybe that's what all this is about, they want to understand that through personal experience. Ride the death drive for a while.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

My thinking was in the lines why they are doing in Germany too. They say look what the fashists did, never again! Same message would make sense in today's Israel too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

That's good, I'm just hoping they could go together with the holocaust survivers who live in Israel and be role models there too, god knows we need them there too.

[–] KISSmyOSFeddit 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don't believe the Israeli youth have a vote in this week's EU election.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Eight Holocaust survivors have urged young people to shun far-right parties and vote to protect democracy at the upcoming European Union elections.

The letter was published by rights group Avaaz and signed by eight men and women aged between 81 and 102 who witnessed the Holocaust first-hand.

"I know that there was a similar development back then as there is today: a weak democratic government and a party that rallied the people who were dissatisfied," 99-year-old Walter Frankenstein said in a video statement.

Ruth Winkelmann, who hid from the Nazis in a shed with her mother and sister after her father was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, said she signed the letter "because the AfD is becoming too strong."

She told the AFP news agency that the far-right party has "quite a lot in common" with the Nazis in the 1930s.

"As a democrat, you should recognize everyone, whether green, white or black, it doesn't matter.


The original article contains 282 words, the summary contains 157 words. Saved 44%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] Linkerbaan 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The "left" German party banned free speech and smacked down people protesting against Genocide. Even banned people that came to speak up for Palestinian rights from all of Europe illegally (got overturned by judge) to prevent people from speaking up against israel. And the Germans proceed to equate Zionism to Judaism as much as possible to use the Jews as an excuse for their war crimes once again.

We're doing the Genocide thing already. Nazi Germany is in full force this very day providing 30% of the weapons for it.

You can't say "never again" while it's happening in front of your eyes.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

By <the "left" German party> do you mean the SPD or Die Linke? Die Linke literally means "The Left".

[–] mal3oon 1 points 6 months ago

At this point, left or right lost any meaning. Everyone has their dimension/criteria/issue for what's considered left and right. It's just meaningless.