From Generation to Generation: Jewish Continuity and Antisemitism

By Abby Portnoy

The senseless violence of October 7th took the world by storm and opened the eyes of Jews to the reality that antisemitism is thriving, even in 2024. While I do not know the names of my family members who perished in the Holocaust, I mourn their slaughter. This is why I take personal responsibility in sharing stories from the Holocaust and educating my non-Jewish friends on why it was wrong. If people are not educated on the atrocities of the past, history is bound to repeat itself.

The transmission of stories from generation to generation allows us to benefit from our ancestors’ experiences. The Holocaust was a genocide of Jews, but it was not the first massive conflict to target the Jewish people. Unfortunately, as we saw on October 7, antisemitism is still a prominent evil in our society.

The Jewish people have often been historical scapegoats, but after October 7th, there has been a change in how Jewish high school and college students are treated by their non-Jewish classmates. Many Jewish students report feeling unsafe. For example, at Stanford University, a lecturer decided to bring up the conflict in his class only three days after October 7th and before Israel invaded Gaza. This professor lectured on the justification of Hamas, and then he had Jewish students identify themselves so they could be directly targeted in class. The professor told the students, “Israelis were colonizers, and that the Holocaust had been overemphasized.” He clearly aimed to belittle and intimidate the Jewish students in his classes. This professor blatantly blamed Israel for the conflict, but then bluntly humiliated all of the Jewish, Israeli and non-Israeli students in the class.

Unfortunately, these students’ experiences are eerily similar to those of Jewish students and professionals of all fields prior to World War II. I recently watched the video testimony of Kurt Klein. He described his changing experiences as a German student in the 1930s with his teachers and friends. Klein states, “Well, there was of course a gradual alienation with my non-Jewish friends and classmates. And whereas in the beginning, they were almost apologetic about it … This soon turned into a real taunting of Jewish boys and girls.” When watching this, I realized how similar this was to the events that are happening now. Just like the Jewish students in that class at Stanford were being blamed for the events in Gaza after the atrocities of October 7, Klein and other Jews in Nazi Germany were being blamed for their country’s problems just because they were Jewish.

Frequently, antisemitic people downplay the significance of the Holocaust to justify their actions and hatred towards Jews. This is why it is imperative that we continue to educate people that the Holocaust did happen. The stories of the survivors of the Holocaust need to be continually shared to help us never forget. It is now my responsibility to share these stories because there are so few survivors left today. As I learn and retell these stories, I hope to promote change, stop hate, and create a cohesive community of people of all religions.

Although the world is constantly changing, it is important that we pass on wisdom from generation to generation. Anti-Zionist protests and the intimidation of Jewish students across the world today have striking similarities to the events leading up to the Holocaust, but we can still fight to stop the spread of hate. Learning the stories of our ancestors has inspired me to stand up against hate, and I hope I can inspire others as well.