My son-in-law's reaction half the time that my wife or I mention a film we have seen.
For a very simple reason: the Holocaust and the ideologies that led up to it are among the most important and destructive in human history, and are still alive and respectable to intellectuals around the world when expressed in "progressive" or "Islamist" guise.
Two recent films: Walking With the Enemy is a fictionalized account of a Hungarian Jew who, often wearing stolen stormtrooper uniforms, helped to save a large fraction of Hungary's Jews from extermination after the Nazi-encouraged coup overthrew their nominal ally, but protective of Hungarian Jews, Regent Horthy and installed a puppet government of Hungarian fascists. This is a powerfully inspiring story of courage and defense of human rights. I am pleased to see something called Liberty Studios made it. One aspect that pleased me was its recognition of the part that Christian clergy often played in saving Jews from the Holocaust; I sometimes get the impression that this is downplayed by some Jews, out of either ignorance as to the primarily non-religious motivations for the Holocaust, or as an attempt to inoculate Jews against conversion.
The other film is Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War. This documentary reminds me of the saying that firemen are the only sane people who run into a burning building. Waitstill Sharps (if that first name seems odd, look at first names in Puritan England and New England) was a Unitarian minister. He and his wife went to Czechoslovakia just after Germany annexed the Sudetenland, but before they occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. Their mission was to assist primarily Jewish refugees in escaping the coming horror. Over the next few years, they participated, along with the Quakers and the Salvation Army, of saving thousands at great personal risk. Darn impressive film.
One of the PR problems the Jews have is that most people are unaware of the long history of anti-Jewish programs that seem endemic to the European/Mediterranean area. The NAZI's appear to be the peak of this, and the fact that they actually started a world war while simultaneously focusing on Jews gets most, or all, of the attention. The fact that Islam was allied with the NAZI regime is also not commonly known.
ReplyDeleteThat the Jews ended up specializing in money handling, jewelry, and diplomacy, among a few other areas of employment, is primarily due to restrictions on businesses they could work at in many nations.
I'm not clear if this widespread attitude is primarily due to Christian antipathy, or if it originates prior to the time of Jesus. Our schools suck, and have for near a century.
Will: Benzion Netanyahu's history of the Spanish Inquisition gives evidence of anti-Semitic rioting (because they were standoffish) as far back as 160 BC. The limitations on professions and blood libel are unsurprisingly part of my Western Civ class, starting in one week!
ReplyDeleteAh! A spot of light in the darkness of schooling. Sounds good!
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