Simply put, it’s time for non-Jews to speak up

Many don’t care about something until it becomes personal. So make it personal.”

The author, reporter for the Wantagh and Seaford Heralds, is not Jewish.

The following 16 words are engraved on the tombstone of Martin Niemoller, a German Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp until its eventual liberation by US troops:

“Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

Niemoller was initially a Nazi supporter, being an enthusiastic antisemite, until the Nazis exerted state control over churches. Niemoller realized the consequences of his enabling of Nazi hatred far too late, having not cared until it affected him.

In July, when antisemitic graffiti was discovered at Forest City Park Pond in Wantagh, I spoke with Rabbi Shimon Kramer of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life, located in Merrick. The rabbi was, as I was, appalled by these actions. He shared these wise words: “History has shown us that hatred starts with one group. It could be Jews, it could be others, but it never stops.”

Antisemitism is on a concerning uptick in America, including here on Long Island. The incident at Forest City Park Pond had a sequel in Cedar Creek Park in September. This comes after antisemitic fliers were distributed across multiple towns on Long Island suggesting a conspiracy involving the Jewish people in President Biden’s cabinet.

And more recently, there is Kanye West.

Ye spewed centuries-old antisemitic tropes suggesting Jewish people are the ones in power, and are responsible for all of our woes. According to West and these tropes, Jewish people control everything consequential, from the media to the banks. Now West has gone so far as to praise Adolf Hitler.

You may not be Jewish. You may not feel you are affected by West’s actions. You may be ignorant of the disturbing number of people agreeing with West. But you’d better wise up to it fast.

Germany fell on some hard times after World War I. Many Germans were dissatisfied with the direction their country was headed in, and this general instability inspired fierce ethno-nationalism. It allowed one German nationalist — Adolf Hitler — to rise to power with a doctrine of world domination and antisemitic hatred that blamed Jewish people for Germany’s troubles.

Did every German in the 1930’s wish to see all Jewish people killed? Maybe not. But enough of them did. And even more of them didn’t do enough to stop those with genocidal intent.

Ask yourself this: What would a German who stood idly by in the 1930s say to a Jewish person who died in the Holocaust?

In line with Rabbi Kramer’s words, Hitler’s hatred didn’t stop at Jewish people. He also targeted Slavic people (Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, and so on) because Slavs stood in the way of Germany’s own Manifest Destiny called Lebensraum.

To justify hatred of the Slavs, Hitler linked them with Jews, suggesting that Slavs were a brutish race subservient to the “Judeo-Bolsheviks” who ruled Eastern Europe. Hitler also targeted Romani people, homosexuals, Catholics, artists … the list goes on. He did this by linking all of these groups back to Jewish people.

Martin Niemoller made a colossal mistake. But in 2022, we have the wisdom of hindsight that those like him didn’t. We cannot let what happened in the 1930s happen again.

Stand up and fight with your Jewish brethren now. Knock down antisemitic tropes every time you have a chance. I hope that you would do so without being told that hatred of Jews could spread to you, but if Niemoller’s story tells us anything, it tells us that many don’t care about something until it becomes personal. So make it personal.

Don’t laugh at Kanye or his supporters’ comments on social media. Don’t dismiss the recent antisemitic actions on Long Island. Don’t say “I’ll stand up if anything bigger comes to pass.” Something bigger than you think is stirring right now. It must be met with a united front of love over hate.

Fight antisemitism now — not next week.