Memorial Director: – “We are experiencing a Holocaust perversion”

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Dani Dayan is director of the Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and for the first time in Austria. With the “crown” he spoke about the difficult commemoration.

„krone“: Director, this is your first visit to Austria.
Dani Dayan:
Yes. But that’s not because I didn’t have the chance or aversion to Austria. You know, there is a Jewish tradition. In every house there is a part of the wall that is not painted. This always reminds us that Jerusalem was destroyed. It reminds me of the terrible things that happened to the Jews in this country. Today I know that you can look at it from two angles. On the one hand what this country has done in these dark times and on the other how the country is dealing with its history now.

And what is your opinion on Austria?
It has taken a few decades, but Austria has come to terms with its history. In a remarkable way and much better than other countries.

But there is still much to do. Many people here in the country don’t want to know anything more about it.
That is why there is an agreement with the Minister of Education, with the President of the National Council, Sobotka, and with Chancellor Nehammer. If you don’t learn from history, you run the risk of it repeating itself.

The anti-corona demonstrations were used as a platform by right-wing extremists. Some have hung a Star of David with the inscription “unvaccinated” in the style of the Star of David. What does it mean to you when you see something like this in Austria?
Of course we are shocked when it happens in Germany and Austria. Unfortunately, during Covid, that was a worldwide phenomenon. Sometimes it was openly anti-Semitism. Just as the Jews used to be responsible for communism and capitalism, they were now responsible for Corona and the Corona vaccine. Sometimes it wasn’t anti-Semitism, but downplaying the Holocaust.

We have to fight against that too. However, it must be said that Holocaust deniers are becoming fewer and fewer. Much less. No one denies the existence of Auschwitz, of the gas chambers, of the executions anymore. What we are witnessing, however, is a holocaust twist, with countries claiming they did everything they could to help the Jews at the time. This is just not true.

They want to wash themselves clean.
Precisely. Austria has worked out the proposition of the first victim of Hitler’s Germany, others have not. For example, the Belarusian constitution only mentions Belarusian victims, not Jewish ones. The problem is that it’s institutionalized, by the government. This is disturbing. In France this year there was a Jewish presidential candidate who claimed that the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis, protected the Jews. This is just not true.

When People Stick Jewish Stars On Themselves With “Unvaccinated”: Is That Anti-Semitism Or Just Stupidity?
It’s almost a philosophical question. It can be anti-Semitism, but also a kind of identification. What bothers me in this case is the trivialization of the Holocaust. But in many cases it is pure ignorance. Let’s take Whoopi Goldberg as an example. The American actress, who said on a talk show that the Holocaust had nothing to do with racism, was a conflict between two white groups. My first thought was: anti-Semitism.

Then I thought about it and concluded that it was simple ignorance. It was not a conflict between Nazis and Jews. The Nazis committed genocide against the Jews for no reason. Whoopi Goldberg has been banned from the TV channel for two weeks. They should have been sent to Yad Vashem for two weeks.

When conflicts break out, comparisons to the Holocaust are quickly drawn. Now also in the Ukraine war.
We strongly condemn the Russian attack on Ukraine. For example, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov invited me to the Donbass to see the atrocities allegedly committed by the Ukrainians. Both abuse Nazi vocabulary for their propaganda. Also President Zelenskyy. He demands help from Israel for Ukraine, because Ukraine has also helped many Jews. That is not true. In Kiev stands a monument to a Cossack who was responsible for the largest mass murder of Jews before Hitler.

In Austria, people often have the impression that it is difficult to raise awareness of the crimes of the Nazi era. Especially for a younger generation.
Yes, this is a difficult task. In Israel we also had the problem. The first generation, the survivors, did not talk about it. The second generation did not ask for it. It wasn’t until the third generation began to ask. Yes, that is difficult. And it gets harder and harder once there’s no one left to tell about it.

Do you think something like the Shoah could happen again?
You can learn several things from the Shoah. Israel’s longtime Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Israel Lau, a Buchenwald concentration camp survivor, said his lesson from the Shoah was to dedicate your life to God. For former Justice Minister Josef Lapid, the father of our current Foreign Minister Jair Lapid, the lesson was: there is no God. Recently, a journalist on Colombian TV said that Hitler had not yet finished his work. I want to share with you the lesson I learned from the Holocaust. Israel was not founded because of the Holocaust, but in spite of the Holocaust.

The State of Israel is the guarantee that there will never be another holocaust against a Jewish population. Can it happen again? We do not have the privilege of the ignorance of the people of the 1930s. At the time, no one thought that such a thing could happen. They said, OK, they burn books. But we never thought they would burn people. Today we know. And that is why anti-Semitism must be fought everywhere.

How do you see the so-called Abraham agreements, which have been concluded with some Arab states and have led to rapprochement?
I have to correct one of my answers: No one is denying the Holocaust anymore this year – except Iran. Denial of the Shoah is widespread there. On the other hand, in Dubai, for example, there is an exhibition commemorating the Holocaust.

Speaking of Iran, the nuclear deal is likely to be repeated soon.
Iran wants to erase Israel from the map. You have to take that very seriously. I remember a scene when I saw the signing on TV here in Vienna in 2015. There were Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif, US Secretary of State Kerry, Russian Lavrov and EU Baroness Catherine Ashton. I’m not an expert on centrifuges or enriching uranium.

But I saw them all laughing and joking. And I thought to myself: 70 years after the Shoah, the leaders of the world, with all their good intentions, are joking and laughing at a representative of a regime calling for the destruction of Israel and the Israeli people. I won’t forget that. And to these gentlemen and ladies I would like to say: never put the words “never again” in your mouth. I had tears in my eyes.

Source: Krone

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