Published: 2 April 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Why Primo Levi’s warning about the young forgetting the Holocaust resonates now (Spectator)
One of the most thought-provoking pieces in The Spectator this week is from Alastair Thomas on why his generation don’t get so upset about anti-Semitism. He explains the phenomenon and offers an explanation: the years have passed, the memories of the holocaust have dimmed.
It’s no longer the experience of someone’s grandparents’ generation, but further back. Since then, there are more recent memories: of the Israeli Defence Force and Gaza.
The conflation between Jews, Israel and Zionism has restored the idea of the Jews as being suspiciously powerful – the oppressors rather than the oppressed. This certainly stands to reason.
Anti-Semitism matters: Jews are the canary in the coalmine (Guardian)
JONATHAN FREEDLAND
The Easter/Passover combination means that at this time every year Jews are reminded of two core facts about themselves. The first is that they are raised, from the start, to remember that their place is with the oppressed and against injustice because, were it not for the exodus, they would still be slaves today. The second is that, from the start, they have been hated.
Both of those messages feel timely this weekend, as Jews reflect on the way a movement that they long saw as their natural home – on the left, fighting oppression and injustice – has been rocked by the question of anti-Jewish hatred. In the last week, the Passover and Easter messages have collided painfully.
Rather than rehash the evidence again, perhaps it might be useful to pick our way through some of the responses that have greeted this latest eruption, starting with the notion that antisemitism is being “weaponised” against the Labour leadership.
Photo: Primo Levi
