• Official Visits at Yad Vashem
• Recent Visits from Friends of Yad Vashem
• Calendar of Events

Legacy of the Holocaust Survivors

Moshe Sanbar

Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust—75 percent of all Jews in Europe who came under Nazi rule at the time. Nazism also inflicted severe damage on the traditional European culture and its moral infrastructure. The Nazi ideology fought Judaism in all ways: physically, by means of gas chambers and extermination in grueling labor, and spiritually, by burning books and boycotting Jewish creative artists. Nazism regarded Jewish culture—both religious and secular—as one of its greatest enemies. Indeed, Jewish culture and the Jewish value system are utterly antithetical to Nazi doctrine.

We, Holocaust survivors in Israel, in conjunction with Yad Vashem and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, took the initiative to call this conference. Our purpose was to stress the polar dissimilarity of these two worldviews and the moral principles and lessons that, in our opinion, flow from the triumph of democracy over Fascism and National Socialism. The Holocaust was ours above all—the Holocaust of the Jewish people—but its most of lessons are universal.

At the existential Jewish level, the most conspicuous lesson is that we cannot rely others to help us at times of distress. In the past, others had concerns that they considered more important. The same will probably hold true in the future. They may observe our agonies with genuine sorrow but their interests will usually steer their considerations toward “non-intervention.” Consequently, the necessary response was the establishment of an independent Jewish state, the State of Israel, which would open its gates to all Jews who wished to find shelter there.

The cruel struggle for survival toughened us as individuals but also taught us that we must not abandon universal basic values in any event. Values of ethics and justice, equality, and national unity should light our path as a free state and society. This has been our incontrovertible response to past and present nemeses, on behalf of a better future. Most Holocaust survivors embraced this lofty goal after World War II when they decided, of their own free will, to settle in this country before and during the War of Independence. Only several years after we emerged from the gates of the Nazi hell, we joined the Haganah and the Israel Defence Forces to take part in that war, in which many of us perished. We regarded, and still regard, the establishment of our state as the ultimate solution for the Jewish people. We consider it a just solution and believe that it may also help to further regional development and enhance the standard of living of our neighbors, with whom we aspire to live in peace and tranquility.

My remarks to this point concerned the national level.

At the universal level, the main lesson—in my opinion—is that phenomena and ideologies that clash with elementary ethical imperatives should be “nipped in the bud,” before they have a chance to amass strength and influence. The Holocaust could not have taken place were it not for the gradual and steady ascendancy of the Nazi Party. The Nazis never masked their intentions; Hitler explained them frankly in Mein Kampf. However, many well-intentioned people at that time considered Nazism nothing but a marginal phenomenon that would quickly vanish. Hitler’s theory was built on “Aryan” racial supremacy and abhorrence of “inferior” races. The core object of the animus was the Jews, whom the Nazis blamed for every misfortune that had ever befallen Germany and Germans. This was their message to the German masses after their defeat in World War I. The economic crisis that coincided with the advent of the Nazi doctrine created fertile soil in which this ideology could spread. However, the practical fulfillment of the Nazi vision could happen only due to the baneful dictatorship that Hitler created—a regime from which his steadily expanding minions of thuggish associates benefited. By the same token, the opponents of the regime were afraid to speak out; most decided to hold their silence and withdraw into a shell, leaving the field to the Nazi gangs. Here lies the origin of the Nazis’ contemptible racial laws, religious and ethnic discrimination, and denial of elementary human rights in the fields of occupation, property, education, and personal freedoms.

This is the history in a nutshell. As stated, however, the implications of this history are strongly evident in the present. The phenomena noted above are recurring almost everywhere. Hence the lesson: to act against them immediately and to strive limitlessly to attain the opposite goals—goals based on the assurance of personal freedom, human dignity, and equal rights and opportunity for all, irrespective of religion, sex, skin color, and ethnicity. Although the roots and residues of hate and discrimination are too deep to permit the attainment of these goals in one stroke, action to attain them should be taken persistently and indefatigably. The likelihood of success in realizing these aspirations is greater in true democracy. Education plays a central role in this matter. Basic moral values should be imparted to children at an early age so they, later on, may be inured to incitement and nurturing of hate.

It is sometimes said that “The ends justify the means.” This is a favored slogan of dictatorships, in which the ruler chooses a goal and sanctions all forms of action, even the most illegitimate and unethical, on its behalf. Although Hitler and Stalin occupied opposite extremes of the political spectrum, both espoused this slogan. To serve such goals as they derived from their wrongful worldviews, one could murder and oppress millions and force additional millions into exile. In my opinion, no goal justifies the cold-blooded murder of absolutely innocent people. In this context, it is worth noting that the so-called suicide terrorists also serve what they consider an exalted national goal. However, their illegitimate means besmirch their cause and stain their banner and struggle with unsullied, precious blood. The real terrorists, the genuine brutes, are not the bombers but those who send them, incite them, train them, equip them, and finance them. These are the people who determined that their goal justifies the despicable murder of children, the elderly, women, and unarmed men. They send brainwashed people to their death people while they themselves, the planners and their children, do not forfeit their lives for the same goal.

Some time ago, in an interview with the Washington Post, a leading figure in Hamas bragged that the Palestinians had found the Israelis’ soft underbelly, i.e., their love of life. Thus, in his opinion, the suicide-bomber method is the ideal way to confront the Jews! This supremely disgusting way of thinking must not be countenanced under any conditions and deserves furious condemnation.

The use of suicide attackers against civilian populations was demonstrated against the United States on September 11, 2001. Today it is being used against us; tomorrow it may be invoked against some other nation. Who knows where this method will lead humankind? The heads of all religions, intellectuals, and enlightened leaders must censure this crime and fight it to the finish. There is not, and cannot be, an end that justifies all means, including the cold-blooded murder of innocents.

We Jews, especially those like us who survived the Holocaust, experienced the implications of a criminal ideology that sanctioned abuse, torture, and murder. Apart from our terrible personal experience, we witnessed the deaths of many who could not endure it. Hence we call upon the enlightened public and everyone who values human life: do not aid or abet the ascendancy and dissemination of ideologies that disregard basic values. Act against them everywhere, with resolve and without letup, for the sake of your children and posterity. This is the crux of our heritage, and it is our will and testament!