75 Years After Nuremberg
Photo Credit and Caption: USHMM “View from above of the judges' bench at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.”
On this day in 1945, the Nuremberg Palace of Justice in Germany was filled with notorious Nazis, including Hermann Goering and Rudolph Hess, who had perpetrated some of the most heinous crimes during the Holocaust. Over the course of the trials, Nuremberg became the birthplace of modern international law, cementing concepts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seventy-five years after the Nuremberg Trials began, antisemitism still exists. How can we spot and stop antisemitism today?
The definition of antisemitism.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) says that the term was coined by a German journalist in 1879 to acknowledge a hatred of Jewish people and associated political trends, including civil rights positions and pacifist doctrines. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance published a definition of antisemitism, which says in part, "antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.”
Antisemitism in history.
Anti-Jewish violence has existed since the Middle Ages. The Nazis used hundreds of years of anti-Jewish sentiment to create propaganda that portrayed Jewish people as "a dangerous 'race' that could never be assimilated into European society." The Holocaust is the most egregious act of antisemitism, and one of the worst genocides, in modern history.
Where we see it today.
Antisemitism exists in several places, but Girl Friday is focused on a rise in antisemitism on social media. As the Guardian wrote in August, QAnon's core belief in "an all-powerful, world-ruling cabal" is derived from a 20th century antisemitic conspiracy theory about a plot for world domination. Since 2018, some of their online conspiracies have been allegedly linked to offline violence.
Know the signs. Antisemitic tropes may be hard to spot online and in conversations if you don't know commonly used terms and symbols. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) maintains a database of hate symbols, abbreviations, hand gestures, and acronyms.
Share information. Not long ago, a celebrity posted antisemitic language on social media and apologized, acknowledging that he did not know his post was antisemitic. USHMM's website contains a wealth of information about antisemitism throughout history, the Holocaust, and where we see antisemitism today.
Remember that bigotry is contagious. Wherever you find one form of bigotry, another will quickly follow. For example, eighty years ago, Nazis used U.S. segregation policies and antimiscegenation laws as a blueprint for German legislation that would deprive Jewish citizens of their fundamental human rights. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was right, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."