THE HOLOCAUST IS OVER WE MUST RISE FROM ITS ASHES

only during the long incubation period that preceded Nazism and that gave rise to apublic mindset that enabled the Nazis to take power.How does one lead a people, an entire society, millions of people, to shut theireyes and block their ears to the events that surround them? Many Germans wouldlater claim, and were prepared to swear, that they had no idea of what was going on,and yet we do not believe them. It’s impossible, we tell their sons and daughters, thatone day people suddenly started to disappear and they did not notice. The sons anddaughters who come to talk to us insist vehemently, “but my parents did not know.”Once in a while, an old resident near a former concentration camp says that hewalked by it daily but did not see the obvious and did not smell anything unusual, likethe ashes of our brethren. It seems that there are mechanisms of suppression anddenial that cause us to shut our eyes to the distress of a battered woman or to turn adeaf ear to the cries of a helpless child that is abused near us. Studies have shownthat viewing images of a car accident is not an effective deterrent against recklessdriving. The notion “it will not happen to me” creates an iron wall between theindividual and the vision of blood, body parts, and death. It is easy to incite a crowd,instilling fear, raising demons, and the rest will simply follow. When individuals testifythat they did not see or hear anything unusual, it may be true because it was simplytoo much to perceive, too much to bear.Hannah Arendt wrote in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem:Lying became integral to the German national character...In wartime,the lie that was most influential on the German people was the slogan“The fatal struggle of the German people,” coined by Hitler orGoebbels. The easy [lying] facilitated the selfdeception in threemanners. First, it hinted that the war was not a war. Second, that fate,not Germany, started it. Third, that it is a question of life and death forthe Germans, who had to eradicate their enemies or be eradicatedthemselves. 2Our beloved Israel also fell into the fatality trap: us, “the good,” against “them,” thedemons, the ultimate enemy. When every enemy is the absolute evil and every conflictis a war to the death, all is justified in our eyes. We do not distinguish between levelsof hostility nor do we view our enemies as rivals with possibly legitimate needs: theyare all against us all the time, and all we can do is defend ourselves. Even our armed