The Holocaust and the Muslim Ban: When Two Hells Collide

First they came for the Jews. Now they’ve come for the Muslims. History has a way of repeating itself—but only if you allow it.

On Friday, we observed Holocaust Remembrance Day. That same day, the White House issued a statement with zero mention of Jews or anti-semitism and issued an executive order banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US. On Saturday, outraged citizens of all colors and creeds gathered across the country to make it clear the “Muslim ban” would not be tolerated. On Sunday, these protests played on, and Trump’s Chief of Staff doubled down, denying the breadth of the Jewish people’s suffering in the Holocaust.

The confluence of events feels eerie. But perhaps it’s a sign.

My friend shared a photo on Instagram of a protester outside the White House today wearing a Jude star, like the ones Jews during the Holocaust were forced to sew onto their sleeves. I saw it and the bile jumped in my throat. I thought of the people arriving at domestic airports on Saturday only to be told that they were not allowed. Because of their religion.

How did it come to this?

It’s a question I’ve continually asked myself the last few months, and especially the last few days. How did it come to barring people from entering the country based on their religion. How did it come to the point where the word “fact” has completely lost its meaning? How — HOW — is it possible that people in power refuse to acknowledge the disproportionate impact the Holocaust had on Jews.

It’s dizzying.

My relationship with religion and its role in my life has been complicated. At one point when I was younger, I even went so far as to call myself an Atheist. And some days — days like today — I wonder if there really is a god. But in the end, I know that I am a Jew. And not just because that’s what I was told as a child, but because I feel it in my bones. When people make anti-semitic comments, I wince. And when they undercut the significance of the Holocaust to the Jewish people, I know they’re lying. Because I know what happened. That, too, I feel in my bones.

I would never deny the Holocaust saw a horrific loss of life from other communities: scores of Jehovah’s Witness, Roma Gypsies, homosexuals, members of the clergy, fearless resisters, and the disabled were murdered by the Nazis in an effort to create a master white race. They, too, must always be remembered. But to say that the word Holocaust isn’t inextricably linked to Jews is actively denying history. It’s the defining Jewish event in modern history. To say otherwise is an erasure of the highest degree.

But an omission of this kind is no coincidence. No, a white supremacist named Steve Bannon is Trump’s right hand man. You know, the same man who didn’t want his children to go to school with “whiny brat” Jews. He is a man who Trump respects and whose opinions he deeply values. They are birds of a feather.

A chill runs down my spine whenever I think of an account from 2000 of Trump’s visit to the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Journalist Dana Milbank wrote at the time:

“…he was led from one disturbing display to another: hate speech, Bosnia, Rwanda, the civil rights struggle, the Holocaust. But Trump seemed detached, focusing his attention on the presentation rather than the content. Shown a video of a racial confrontation, he remarked: “Good actors.” He spent an hour or so wandering around the exhibits, muttering “fabulous” and “unbelievable” and “brilliant execution” and “extraordinary” and “outstanding.”

Milbank also noted that at the end of the visit, Trump “marveled that Hitler came to power ‘so brilliantly.’” These are not the words of a person who respects my people’s history. These are the words of a man who only sees the presence of god in the reflection of dollar signs. These are the words of a man who worships power above all, and admires the way one white man was able to rid his territory of a certain set of people. In 1930’s Europe, it was the Jews. In 2017 America, it’s Muslims.

I arrived down at Battery Park in Manhattan today to witness the hoards of people gathered to protest the Muslim ban. As I weaved through the crowd, amidst the puffy winter coats and flailing signs I spotted a group of young men in yarmulkes, the traditional Jewish head covering for men. One carried a sign that read “Jews Say NO! To Islamophobia.” It made me smile.

A 37-year-old woman at the same protest told my reporter friend, “I thought about my Jewish ancestors that were shut out during the Holocaust, and I felt despair that we have this idea that progress moves forward, but we’re in fact moving back to one of the most shameful periods of our history.”

Amen.

If Trump is successful with his Muslim ban, if he forces would-be refugees to stay in their war-torn countries, if he encourages white supremacists to turn on their immigrant neighbors, we could indeed witness a period of unprecedented violence. And 60 years from now, the US president will have to reflect on those atrocities. But the difference will be that the history books will hopefully show how we took to the streets to fight for our friends, co-workers and neighbors.

If we can thank the new administration for anything, it’s for reminding us to be vigilant; reminding us to speak up; and reminding us to, as one very famous Jew once said, “love your neighbor as yourself.”