Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember one of the most painful periods in our recent past and its lessons for our present.
We remember the six million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime. We remember the five million others who were murdered — Roma and Sinti people, people with disabilities, queer and trans people, political prisoners, socialists, and communists. We remember the millions more who survived dehumanization and torture.
As we mark this day against the backdrop of ICE’s invasion of Minneapolis, every Jewish institution must look at itself and ask what we are doing to end fascism here, in the United States, in 2026.
It’s why we are shocked that the ADL's CEO Jonathan Greenblatt posted a statement calling for "an immediate de-escalation on all sides."1
Imagine telling Jews to de-escalate during the Holocaust, or African Americans to de-escalate during Jim Crow.
In addition, the U.S. Holocaust Museum — which has said nothing about ICE in Minneapolis — chose this moment to attack Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for mentioning Anne Frank in a press conference following the public execution of ICU nurse Alex Pretti.2
(Governor Walz said: "We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody's going to write that children's story about Minnesota.”)
Here are the lessons we’re taking from the Holocaust today:
We remember that the Holocaust did not begin with death camps and gas chambers but with othering and scapegoating. Then laws. We remember that chattel slavery and Jim Crow gave the Nazis a blueprint for the persecution of Jews and other peoples.
We remember that the perpetrators of the Holocaust used fear to consolidate their power, creating conditions where to oppose them or support those in the crosshairs meant death.
We remember that despite the risk, many still rose up to defend their neighbors. To hide them, to help them, to save them. To fight back, because a threat to any of us is a threat to all of us.
We remember that today, the fight continues. And as memories of the Holocaust stir in our country — through the administration’s warm embrace of Nazi membership, its scapegoating and targeting of our neighbors, and its deliberate use of fear as a weapon to consolidate power — we remember that showing up for our neighbors is the only way to create change. We remember our responsibility to each other.
To ensure that Never Again is more than a slogan. It’s a promise.
Sources:
1. Jonathan Greenblatt, X/Twitter
2. The U.S. Holocaust Museum, X/Twitter
