Sept. 1, 1939: Troubling echoes of global anti-semitism, 80 years on

This milestone has a sobering duality: It is an event few are alive to actually remember, yet the Sept. 1, 1939 echoes grow disturbingly louder.

The blitzkrieg was far from the first, but it was the most brutal, act of antisemitism Europe had seen in the 1930s. And the Nazi aggression went beyond Hitler’s wish to conquer all of Europe; his regime  had plans to turn Poland, already home to 1.6 million Jews, into the place where the Nazis would deport all the continent’s Jews.

The killings and deportations to concentration camps began within weeks of Poland’s fall, and the invasion set in motion six years of murder and genocide.

It’s troubling enough that the world is witnessing a renewed cold war environment in Europe and beyond, with the fraying diminishment of the two institutions that stabilized Europe beginning in the post-war years: NATO and the  “common market” now known as European Union.

And right-wing governments or controlling parties are gaining favor throughout Europe, with leaders worldwide showing increasing willingness to trade in language all too similar to fascist rhetoric of the 1930s. 

But it goes beyond that, beyond institutions. It goes to how humans treat each other. Expressions of hatred against Jewish people and their institutions — a growing list of vandalism, assault, even killings in a synagogue — are all too common on both sides of the Atlantic.

As antisemitism spikes alarmingly in Europe and the U.S., it is critical to look back on the 1939 anniversary and remember the nation’s resolve in defeating the Hitler scourge. While we are far from the point of pogroms and genocide, what we are seeing is that the same blind and irrational fears and stereotypes of the past have in 2019 appeared around us.

As we look back on Sept. 1 and all that it meant, and means, individuals must resist the toxic perpetuation of hatred, and not allow their leaders to foment ignorance for political gain.