More than 350 Survivors and Descendants of Survivors and Victims of the Nazi Genocide Condemn Israel’s Assault on Gaza
327 Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide published this letter written in response to Elie Wiesel’s manipulation of the Nazi Genocide in the Saturday, August 23rd edition of the New York Times. Since then several more have signed on.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 24th, 2014
Jewish Holocaust survivors from around the world call for justice in Gaza
[8/24/14 San Francisco, CA] 40 Jewish survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and 287 descendants of survivors and victims issued a letter this weekend condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza. “As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine.” The letter, with signatories from 26 countries representing four generations of survivors and descendants, ran on page A13 of the Saturday, August 23rd edition of the New York Times.
The letter has been reported by Ha’aretz and the BBC among others. As of 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday the Ha’aretz article had received more than 15,000 facebook likes and had been shared on twitter nearly 5,000 times. Signatories to the letter will be hosting a press conference on Monday, August 25th, 2014 at 11:00 am Eastern Time.
The Holocaust survivors expressed gratitude for the opportunity to express their dismay over Israel’s assault and misrepresentation of their shared history. Liliana Kaczerginski, daughter of a Vilna ghetto resistance fighter, said “What Israel is doing goes against everything that my father fought for; it is a violation of my family’s memory and I am proud to honor them with my signature.”
Hajo Meyer, a survivor of Auschwitz and the initial signatory to the letter expressed outrage at the racism coming out of Israel. “The dehumanization of Jews is what made possible the Nazi genocide. In the same way, we are witnessing the escalating dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society,” he said. [Meyer passed away on 8/22/2014, the day before the letter ran in the New York Times.]
The letter was penned in response to an inflammatory ad campaign in which Elie Wiesel compares the murder of children during the Holocaust to Hamas’ actions in Gaza. Wiesel’s ad—which ran in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and the Guardian among others—was so distasteful that the Times of London declined to run it and the Guardian published this response for free. In the letter, the survivors write, “we are disgusted and outraged by Elie Wiesel’s abuse of our history to justify the unjustifiable: Israel’s wholesale effort to destroy Gaza and the murder of more than 2,000 Palestinians, including many hundreds of children.”
Dr. Hani Jamah, a Palestinian living in California who lost 30 family members in an Israeli bombing said, “When Israel started it’s bombardment of Gaza, I turned on the news and discovered that 30 of my aunts and cousins had died in a single bomb blast. Joining my voice with 40 survivors of the Nazi genocide adds power to our call that we must work together to bring justice to Gaza.”
“With the growing number of people around the world holding Israel accountable for its genocidal crimes, I applaud the courageous statements by holocaust survivors and their families being on the right side of justice,” said Monadel Herzallah, who is part of the US Palestinian Community Network and has family in Gaza. “Our children and grandchildren inside of Gaza deserve a life of believing that Never Again means Never Again for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime.”
Raphael Cohen, grandson of survivors who lives in the United States, called on people to take action to demand justice for Palestinians. “It is my own government paying for this violence. When governments won’t do what’s right, individuals and communities must speak out. That’s why I support the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions.”
The signatories hope that their letter will strengthen the claim that the legacy of Jewish suffering must mean never again for anyone, least of all, to be used in defense of Israeli violence.
Press Contact: Lee Gargagliano, survivorsletter@gmail.com
***Interviews are available in English, Spanish, French, Hebrew and German***
Dr. Hajo G. Meyer was born in 1924 in Bielefeld, Germany. Not allowed to attend 
school there after November 1938, he fled to the Netherlands, alone. In I944, after a year in the underground, he was caught and subsequently survived 10 months at Auschwitz. He lives in the Netherlands.
school there after November 1938, he fled to the Netherlands, alone. In I944, after a year in the underground, he was caught and subsequently survived 10 months at Auschwitz. He lives in the Netherlands.
Hedy Epstein was born August 15, 1924 in Freiburg, Germany. She escaped Nazi Germany to England on a children’s transport. Hedy’s parents were sent to Auschwitz and never heard from again. After the war, Hedy worked at the Nuremberg Medical Trial, which tried the doctors accused of performing medical experiments on concentration camp inmates. She lives in the United States.
Raphael Cohen is a writer and educator based in Oakland, California. His maternal 
grandparents survived the height of the Nazi genocide in Poland, hidden alongside several dozen other Jews by a non-Jewish Pole. Raphael lives in the United States.
grandparents survived the height of the Nazi genocide in Poland, hidden alongside several dozen other Jews by a non-Jewish Pole. Raphael lives in the United States.
Dr Hani Jamah is a dentist and Palestinian-American who lost 30 members of his extended family in a single Israeli bombing. Dr Jamah lives in San Jose, CA. He said, “When Israel started it’s bombardment of Gaza, I turned on the news and discovered that 30 of my aunts and cousins had died in a single bomb blast. Joining my voice with 40 survivors of the Nazi genocide adds power to our call that we must work together to bring justice to Gaza.
Edith Bell was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1923. Her father died in concentration camp Theresienstadt and her mother in Auschwitz. Edith was sent to Camp Westerbork, Theresienstadt, Auschwitz and Kurzbach and was liberated by the Soviet Army in January 1945. After the war she returned to the Netherlands then migrated in 1947 to Palestine, living in a Kibbutz. Edith has lived in the US since 1955 and has been a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom for more than 50 years.
Margot Goldstein has taught social studies in public schools of San Francisco for over a decade, and is the daughter of immigrants from Argentina and Germany. Her grandfather was taken by Nazi’s in the middle of the night to Buchenwald Concentration camp, but early on in the war, made it to Bolivia, where the rest of the family eventually met him. She is a part of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.
Maia Ettinger is a writer and attorney living in Guilford, CT. Born in Warsaw, Poland, she came to the United States at the age of 5 with her mother and grandmother, both survivors of the Nazi genocide who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto as the trains began running to Treblinka. Raised as a proud, secular Jew, Maia was a strong supporter of Israel, and struggled with the issue of Palestinian rights until her mother visited a West Bank checkpoint during the first Gulf War. In a phone call from Israel, her mother said, “Maia, it was the Ghetto.”
Liliane Kaczerginski - Schmerke Kacerczynski, Liliane’s father, was
a prominent Jewish fighter against the Nazis in the Vilnius ghetto in Lithuania. A former activist with Matzpen during her 14 years in Israel, Liliane is now an activist with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN). She recently argued that “Zionism dishonours the genocide of European Jews” and that a “Jewish State…means Jewish supremacy; we say no to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.” Liliane lives in France.
Maia Ettinger is a writer and attorney living in Guilford, CT. Born in Warsaw, Poland, she came to the United States at the age of 5 with her mother and grandmother, both survivors of the Nazi genocide who escaped the Warsaw Ghetto as the trains began running to Treblinka. Raised as a proud, secular Jew, Maia was a strong supporter of Israel, and struggled with the issue of Palestinian rights until her mother visited a West Bank checkpoint during the first Gulf War. In a phone call from Israel, her mother said, “Maia, it was the Ghetto.”Liliane Kaczerginski - Schmerke Kacerczynski, Liliane’s father, was
a prominent Jewish fighter against the Nazis in the Vilnius ghetto in Lithuania. A former activist with Matzpen during her 14 years in Israel, Liliane is now an activist with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN). She recently argued that “Zionism dishonours the genocide of European Jews” and that a “Jewish State…means Jewish supremacy; we say no to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.” Liliane lives in France.
Suzanne Weiss is a Jewish holocaust survivor hidden and saved by a peasant community in Auvergne , France. Her mother died in Auschwitz, 1943. Suzanne Weiss now lives in Canada.
Alex Safron is a Bay Area based video editor and producer. His maternal grandmother survived the Nazi Genocide, after her parents were taken and presumably perished in a concentration camp, by going into hiding with other Jews in Germany, escaping a work camp in the Pyrenees, escaping arrested by Klaus Barbie and joining the French Maquis resistance.
Messages of Support and Solidarity in Response to Survivors’ and Descendents’ Letter
IJAN has received a flood of responses to the letter condemning Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, which ran in the New York Times August 23rd. The letter was signed by 40 survivors of the Nazi genocide and 287 descendants of survivors and victims. Below are some of the personal messages of support and solidarity that IJAN has received.
I have lost my grandfather —, my grandmother –, my aunts — and — , my uncles –, –, — in the Nazi camps. Only my mother came back and died on May 11th, 1999. She left me a message of peace and tell me to always fight against injustice. That’s why I support Palestinian people against Israel apartheid policy.
Very pleased to read the reasonable voice of normal Jewish people is being heard at last. The disgusting repression of equally reasonable and normal Palestinians in Gaza proves to me the Israeli government has long since forgotten its history.
I am a 77 year old Brazilian of German Jewish descent and have just seen the news today (Aug 24, 2014) about IJAN activities in the local site of BBC. Congratulations.
I escaped with my brother — through the Spanish border in early 44, after almost having been identified 3 times by the Germans as Jewish. My own parents survived in occupied France but 3 aunts and 4 cousins died in several camps. I joined the Free French air force and was trained as a bomber pilot in the US. I am anti-Zionist and made in Berkeley in 2002 a declaration to the press in support of a boycott of Israeli-US academic exchanges.
You don’t need to have survived an injustice to speak out and be able to identify one today. Solidarity with these brave people.
-London, Ontario, Canada
I share your revulsion and outrage at the carnage in Gaza. I am appalled at the brutalisation of the Palestinian people, which began in 1948 with the massacre of Deir Yassin and has continued until the present with the entire population of Palestine being held hostage under Israeli military occupation for the last 57 years and the Gaza Strip transformed into a huge open air prison. I am appalled at the vicious hypocrisy of the US Government and the gutless “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” attitude of the European governments. I am appalled by the amorality of firms that deliver weapons to Israel and cheerfully help build illegal settlements, equip Israeli prisons and demolish Palestinian houses.
-An Australian concert pianist
When I protest Israeli policies, I know that my father–survivor of forced labour on the Russian front and then some camps, ending with Mauthausen–would be proud. My mother, also an enslaved worker after “selection” at Ravensbruck, would also understand the idea of “never again for anyone.” Why is it that so many Jews, who are often so aware of other forms of racism and other inequalities, rewrite the story when it comes to Palestinians? This is a major case of historical amnesia. It was, after all, the European fascists who murdered us, not the Palestinians.
-Toronto, Canada
As a Jew living in Sweden, and being horrified by what is taking place in Gaza, it was such a relief to read this letter. Taking such a firm moral stance brings some hope back into this darkness, and I am profoundly grateful for that. I pray that your voice will ring out clearly in the Jewish world, and in Western and Israeli politics.
Zionism must end, as did Apartheid- and it will.
-Portland, US
As a relative of victims of the Holocaust, (my grandmother’s aunts, uncles and cousins were murdered by Einzatsgruppen in the Ukraine) and the descendant of indigenous survivors of attempted genocide in the Caribbean, I wholeheartedly endorse this statement.
-Cambridge, MA, US
We condemn the illegal occupation of the Palestinian people, the massacre of civilians, children, young men and women! We call on the immediate lifting of blockade!
-Guinée-conakry
As a 6-year old child I have immigrated with family in 1937 from Northeim, Germany to then British-ruled Palestine. My full support to the jewish survivors letter opposing the use of the holocaust to defend every wrongdoing of Israel by Israel, Hasbara and it’s supporters abroad. -Israel
The letter in the New York Times echoed my sentiments after I read Rabbi Shmuley’s hateful and distorted/untruthful advertisements in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times over the last weeks. Half of my family is Jewish, with members who were victimized by the Nazis. We were taught that the victimization of Palestinians by Jews, seizing homes, land, farms, personal belongings and more, including the loss of life at the hands of militant Zionists was wrong enough for us not to endorse Zionism. Although we have many friends who live in Israel, and we have visited, we are sickened by the double standard by which many Jews have taken refuge in Israel at the expense of Palestinians. Bless you all for your efforts.
Together we stand against military agression, occupation, colonization, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide, for the sake of a better, safer and more just world for anyone, regardless of faith, origin, sex and you name it!
-Sassenheim, Netherlands
We respect and appreciate the anti-Zionist Jewish friends for their integrity and courage. They remind us of that long and honorable emancipationist tradition dating back to Moses Mendelsohn, but broken by the Zionist movement.
-Cairo, Egypt
With the growing number of people around the world holding Israel accountable for its genocidal crimes, I applaud the courageous statements by holocaust survivors and their families being on the right side of justice. Our children and grandchildren inside of Gaza deserve a life of believing that Never Again means Never Again for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime.
-San Francisco, CA, US
Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” Gaza is the Polish ghetto of our times.
-New York, NY, US
As a jew who lost many family members in pogroms, and as a human being who hates racism, colonialism and violence, I must speak out against Israel’s brutalization of Palestinians. Never again for anyone!
-Brooklyn, NY, US
I am the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. It is my deep regret that he does not share the these feelings. Nonetheless I am a proud Jew who acts according to my conscience and continue to advocate and organize for ending the occupation and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians.
-Canada
Desperately, as the months and the horrors multiply, ‘Never Again for Anyone.’
-London
“El genocidio comienza con el silencio del mundo” y no queremos ser complices del asesinato del pueblo palestino, ni de las agresiones ante todos aquellos que nos manifestemos en contra del accionar vergonzoso del estado israeli
-La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mi más profunda solidaridad a quienes con mucha valentía han salido a denunciar el Genocidio que lleva adelante el Estado terrorista de Israel. Como descendiente de familia judía grito: EN NUESTRO NOMBRE NO. Viva la lucha y la resistencia del heroico Pueblo Palestino. Todos y todas somos Gaza.
-Argentina
My family fled the Nazis in 1940, I am first generation American, and I condemn Israel’s brutal slaughter and want it to STOP. The horror I feel at what has become the Zionist state of Israel, at the right-wing Zionist war machine, and at the gruesome war crimes being committed by it against the human beings in Palestine, especially in Gaza which is still being massacred, is the self-same horror I felt as a child hearing about the Nazi persecution of European Jews. The Palestinians are my family now, cherished victims and ancestors and sacred souls, needlessly sacrificed to a monstrous patriarchal force which is fueled by bigotry and ignorance!
-US
Je condamne avec la plus grande fermeté le massacre des palestiniens et la négation de leurs droits en tant que peuple de la Palestine. -Bruxelles
The Jewish resistance of the Warsaw ghetto did not fight for the approval of the German Nazi government, but for the survival of their own people. The people of Gaza are doing the same today. The state of Israel is illegitimate and must be dismantled.
-Ottawa, Canada
If a person kills another, it is called murder. But what do you call it when an imprisoned population is targeted, when 90 ENTIRE families are exterminated? When orchards and farm animals are bombed? When children are murdered? When eyewitness accounts are discredited? This tragic predicament should never happen to anyone. To ANY people. I and my family believe that the Palestinian people want to and deserve to live in peace, without fear, with justice and full human rights, including the capability for human flourishing. They deserve this along with the rest of humanity.
The Holocaust does not justify Israel committing genocide against Gaza and the Palestinian people. The Irgun, the Stern Gang, names of Jewish terrorist groups of the Zionist enterprise who orchestrated mapped out terrorist campaigns to get as many of the Palestinian people out for their lands in 1948. The people of Gaza are owners of homes in places such as Sderot. They are illegally prevented from returning. For seven years Israel has been starving Gaza under a brutal military siege.
I am reformist monotheist activist, a Kurdish/Turkish/American author, professor of philosophy residing in Tucson, Arizona. I am very delighted to hear your voice. The Zionist policy has been inflaming anti-Semitism around the world. And you are the best group to fight against the increasing racism, against Arabs and Jews alike.
Source: http://ijsn.net/press-release-jewish-holocaust-survivors-from-around-the-world-call-for-justice-in-gaza/
