Maybe I should've known better, especially considering the current political climate, but I never imagined, even in my wildest dreams, that Auschwitz Birkenau is somewhere people would feel comfortable being openly antisemitic. There was one Rabbi leading our group, and he also happened to be the only Jewish staff member present.
When he mentioned the fact that antisemitism, as we all know, has become pervasive as a result of the conflict in the Middle-East, all hell broke loose.
Immediately, the people next to me starting whispering that he was being purposely provocative, and questioned why they should care about the Shoah, because evidently, Jewish people don't care about Palestinians. Just to remind you, we were standing in literal Auschwitz while this took place. Later, I heard somebody say, while we were metres from the gas chambers, that if they could, they'd finish the job.
Earlier, me and the only other Jewish participant had received dirty stares from people in our group because we had brought an Israeli flag, which might I add, is an incredibly common thing to raise at these sites. But on the plane (I went with an organised group) we heard multiple people mocking us, saying they were disgusted by the fact that we had even dared bring one. For clarity, this was my first time visiting a concentration camp, which made the experience even more awful and humiliating.
At first, I wondered if maybe I'd made the wrong decision by bringing an Israeli flag. Some of the people on this trip had never encountered Jews before, and might have had misinformed views about Zionism or what it connotates. But fuck that. Non-Jews do not, and will NEVER have the right to police how Jews behave and react in the sites of their trauma. The one place we should never feel afraid to be publicly Jewish is Auschwitz-Birkenau; but I kid you not, I was genuinely fucking shaking as I held the Israeli flag there.
It's strange, because I'd always imagined that in a situation like this, I would stand my ground and confront antisemitism. But actually hearing it in real life is so surreal and so scary that I felt almost powerless. In all my life, I've never felt more scared to be Jewish than I did in Auschwitz; the site where millions of my people were murdered.
When he mentioned the fact that antisemitism, as we all know, has become pervasive as a result of the conflict in the Middle-East, all hell broke loose.
Immediately, the people next to me starting whispering that he was being purposely provocative, and questioned why they should care about the Shoah, because evidently, Jewish people don't care about Palestinians. Just to remind you, we were standing in literal Auschwitz while this took place. Later, I heard somebody say, while we were metres from the gas chambers, that if they could, they'd finish the job.
Earlier, me and the only other Jewish participant had received dirty stares from people in our group because we had brought an Israeli flag, which might I add, is an incredibly common thing to raise at these sites. But on the plane (I went with an organised group) we heard multiple people mocking us, saying they were disgusted by the fact that we had even dared bring one. For clarity, this was my first time visiting a concentration camp, which made the experience even more awful and humiliating.
At first, I wondered if maybe I'd made the wrong decision by bringing an Israeli flag. Some of the people on this trip had never encountered Jews before, and might have had misinformed views about Zionism or what it connotates. But fuck that. Non-Jews do not, and will NEVER have the right to police how Jews behave and react in the sites of their trauma. The one place we should never feel afraid to be publicly Jewish is Auschwitz-Birkenau; but I kid you not, I was genuinely fucking shaking as I held the Israeli flag there.
It's strange, because I'd always imagined that in a situation like this, I would stand my ground and confront antisemitism. But actually hearing it in real life is so surreal and so scary that I felt almost powerless. In all my life, I've never felt more scared to be Jewish than I did in Auschwitz; the site where millions of my people were murdered.
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