On “Never Again”

The phrase “Never Again” is a constant refrain in both the specialized discourse and popular discourse on the Holocaust. It is such an empty, shallow palliative.

It is hard for me to look at the world today and not see direct parallels with Nazi persecution and the antecedents of genocide. The mass murder, terrorizing, and expulsion of Rohingya in Myanmar is one such parallel that is impossible to ignore.

But so to is what is happening today in America, where Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions have announced the end of DACA and the eventual deportation of Dreamers. It is impossible for me not see the parallel with the National Socialists’ Polenaktion in October 1938 that revoked the residency of and deported 12,000 Polish Jews, 8,000 of whom were denied entry to Poland and left to waste away in a No Man’s Land at the border. It was one of the crucial antecedents to the terror of Kristallnacht the following month throughout Germany. Now 800,000 Dreamers in America face the same possible fate.

The parallels are there and impossible to ignore, and many millions of Americans support and cheer on these actions.

It happens Again and Again.