By Dr Inna Rogatchi (C)
The European leadership loves commemorations. They love themselves in those endless selfies en masse, after every next sit-down or stand-up; at the pompous cloned gatherings; during speeches and cocktails.
When it comes to the grimmest dates connected with the Holocaust and the other terrible atrocities of the WWII, the commemorations are still in place, in its adopted routine: VIPs, receptions, a kind of celebrations.
This very thin-iced situation with regard to moral perception of the reflections on the Holocaust always poses a key question, to me: how one ‘commemorates’ the abyss of de-humanisation? One as an individual, and one as an institution? I personally always feel rather awkward and uncomfortable with celebrative element in these ceremonies. How to ‘commemorate’ the horror? The dark of darkness?
Inna Rogatchi. Stars of the Paneriai Forest. Original fine art photography collage. 2014. Black Milk & Dark Stars series.
Psychologically, a human being tends to reminiscent, not commemorate when the subject is the deeds of evil. Reminiscences on the Catastrophe, Shoah, and the Lessons of the Holocaust would be, in my opinion, an appropriate format for people and societies today to address the most tragic period in the modern history.
But is anyone heeding those lessons today, 70 years since the shadows of men had been getting out of the Nazi extermination camps in Europe? Hardly so.
Both, the policies of the EU and the approach of the EU leadership towards Israel and Jews in general are screamingly indicating to the opposite. Everything what we are witnessing in this respect today coldly manifests hard-core anti-Semitism practised openly in a form and way of public policy by non-elected political appointees at the top floor of the EU quasi-bureaucracy. It is also vulgar, uneducated and primitive anti-Semitism which is natural to devoted Stalinistas.
Three generations on the Holocaust, we are greeted by the EU bosses on a Kristallnacht anniversary, just two days after it, with decision on labelling the products from Judea and Samaria. “What a misfortunate coincidence!..” – my European diplomatic friend was genuinely terrified. Coincidence, I thought?..
The unilateral EU decision on the labelling the Israeli products is felt as a slap into face by every Jew world-wide. Minus those 550 ultra-left Israeli signatories of the letter supporting the insult to the nation who are seemingly feel particularly happy when their own country is attacked. This is known psychological case-study for clinical misanthropy.
Were the meaning and side-effects of this manifesting anti-Semitic move considered at the EU corridors while the unprecedentedly unfair, discriminatory, and simply racist decision has been cooked, lobbied and accepted? Not for a second. The EU foreign policy from 2009 onward is led in consequence by narrow-minded, low-browed, devoted appeasers of Islamic powers. Such tradition when it is enroots in the giant institution like the EU, creates policy that becomes a reality and spreads on. If we, Jewish people, would not defend our dignity, no one will do it for us. Nobody ever did.
The thinking behind the shameful process of labelling the Israeli goods is not just ‘singling out’ the Jewish nation. For better or worse, we had been singled out per design although those primitive friends of ayatollah propelled to the Brussels top floor would never get the concept. To come on with labelling plot, it was a hostile attack against Israel which has been planned to become just one of the instruments of one-sided aggressive anti-Israel policy. An appetizer, so to say.
In the matter of international politics, this decision has the same weight and meaning as the infamous UN resolution number 3379 equalising Zionism with racism. You would be laughing, but it has been adopted on November 10th, 1975, forty years back to the day of the labelling shame adopted in Brussels. How very celebrative. And what a line for November commemorations: 9th – the Kristallnacht, 10th – the UN Zionism equal to racism stamping, and now 11th – the EU labelling scheme.
There is no doubt in my mind that the EU decision on labelling the Israeli goods will be left in history in the very row above, following the Kristallnacht and then the UN outrage calling the Jews who loves their land ‘racists’ just 30 years after a third of entire Jewish world population was annihilated just because of their origin.
When comparing the EU labelling scheme with Kristallnacht, one should bear in mind that although we have horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, French, British and Polish attacks and terrible atrocities against their Jewish population throughout
Inna Rogatchi. Visions of the Paneriai Forest. Original fine art photography collage. 2014. Black Milk & Dark Stars series.
history, there had been no precedent of the Kristallnaght in living memory of existing generations. The terrible atrocities against Jews were episodes of history and were perceived like that. But we today do have a precedent of Kristallnacht as a part of recent – very recent, as a matter of fact – history, it is a part of actual life of millions of families worldwide. Today.
And this very fact alone deprives any excuses and explanations from the moral cripples of the EU leadership breed who did allow themselves this blatant anti-Semitic attack on entire Jewish population world-wide, and who were allowed to get on with it, importantly.
And where was the world? It is good to have a bi-partisan letter from the US Congress with 36 law-makers addressing the issue and protesting it, but its effect – apart of the telling well on a moral qualities of the signatories – is close to zero as the Obama Administration is supporting the racist move of the EU, expectedly so. Germany is issued a meeking criticism of the labelling decision, but it has happened post-factum and it was done in the way to balance possible outrage of Israel and Jews world-wide in a self-defensive subtle move. If the German government would be willing to influence the decision, they would do it. They did not – for the record.
Left alone on the international stage, Israel fights as it should, with the legal counter-moves and challenges contemplated by Jewish state being completely justified. Low-brow ones are aliens to comprehending, so it could be reminded that we do have our David – and enemies of Jews of all sorts could clone their Goliaths as long, as they are fantasise about it. The result will be the same.
In this ongoing drama, the world against Jews, just no one should forget the moral challenges, too. Those are not empty words. Every political decision and deed is accountable also from a moral side. And in this process, it is the EU that actually labels itself today, in unmistaken Kristallnacht style.
The labelling decision has not come as a thunder-bolt, though. It has been proceeded in the context of today’s Europe which started to show ugly new tendencies which has to be recognised as a new European reality-in-making.
Among those tendencies is laughing on the Holocaust – as it was addressed in my article on the subject ( http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/16448#.VkWwKNIrIks). Among those tendencies is also a new ‘brilliant’ idea of Judenfrei Kristallnaght ‘alternative’ commemorations in Sweden and the Netherlands. The Netherlands, of all places, makes its citizens be ashamed of bearing the Holland passports, as reported in the media, by inviting very much alternative Knesset member M-me Z to star there at the profoundly mocking the Shoah event. But this is also for the Israeli public and authorities to deal with it, finally.
‘Alternative’ and Judenfrei Kristallnachts is the same like faked images of Jews laughing next to the barbed Auschwitz wire and playing sick and hide in the gas chambers at the infamous scandalous Holocaust-mocking exhibitions. In plain words, it is sacrilege. The same sacrilege, as to label Israel goods 70 years after the very fact of the Holocaust treatment applied to Jews in Europe. The thoughts behind all these phenomena are revolting and inhuman. It denies its bearers and conductors of common sense, conscience, culture, knowledge, understanding, and norms of civilised behaviour. And those people behind the decisions should be dealt accordingly, independent from their current position. Positions are always a temporarily term.
In my view, what’s going on at the European political and public stage today is not just another attempt of revising the Holocaust. History it is a process of repeating itself episodes. What we are witnessing, very alarmingly, today is a pre-dominated effort of denying the existing legacy of the Holocaust and its general perception by the world community. One can see this recently started and aggressively developing process like a conscious applying salt on a metal to cause its corrosion.
The logic behind it simple and nasty: the Holocaust generation is disappearing, and to re-do the entire psycho around the Holocaust and its victim it would be a piece of cake soon, those people believe. And it is a piece of cake for them, the whole issue of Shoah.
With the change of generation, the new evils are muscles in – in a perpetuum of history. For those who are irritated with the past-Holocaust legacy – and irritated they are – there is a need of a change of psychological condition in general perception of post-Shoah legacy.
That’s why it is has become ‘stylish’ to laugh on the Holocaust, that’s why it is seen by some as so ‘cool’ to commemorate Kristallnacht without Jews but with their sworn enemies; that’s why open, rough anti-Semitism has become so fashionable for a few years by now. That’s why the wild decision on labelling Jewish, Israeli goods has become possible and has been adopted so easily in the house of Europe. Those who conceive that decision and made sure that it will become a fact of political reality of today might be occupying a high positions, but they did certifiably demonstrate their lowest human standards. They has been successfully labelled themselves as cheap anti-Semites.
Getting closer to the festive season, one should be surprised on hearing in the Brussels corridors a whispers about a special Christmas present received by Mme Mogherini, an exquisite hijab, with a distinctive label: “Made in Tehran”.
November 2015
FINLAND
Dr Inna Rogatchi is writer, scholar, film-maker, co-founder and president of The Rogatchi Foundation. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed film The Lessons of Survival. Conversations with Simon Wiesenthal, and her forthcoming book is Dark Stars, Wise Hearts: Personal Reflections on the Holocaust in the Modern Times. More about Dr Rogatchi and her activities – at Rogatchi Films – www.rogatchifilms.org and The Rogatchi Foundation – www.rogatchi.org