Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

As the Holocaust recedes further and further into the past, the anti-Semites of the future (and for sure they will exist) will have an easier time promoting the falsehood that the Holocaust never occurred.

Who will replace the first generation of survivors to bear witness and to challenge the current and future Holocaust deniers? Who will perpetuate the truth that the darkest event in human history actually occurred?

In order for “Never Again” to be a continuing reality, and not just a slogan, the World must “Never Forget”!

Can World Jewry rely on a future non-Jewish world to remember such a tragic and horrific event and to prevent it from occurring in the future?

The current increase in anti-Semitic physical and media attacks against Jews in America and around the globe perpetrated by the Progressive Left, the White Supremacist Right and Islamist extremists do not portend an affirmative answer to this question.

The movement to delegitimize the existence of the State of Israel through the BDS movement and the decades-long hatred generated by the UN and its agencies through its disproportionate, false and non-meritorious anti-Zion and anti-Israel resolutions, contradict any thought that the Jewish people can rely on anyone but themselves for their current and future security and survival.

The continued widespread disregard of human rights in Iran, China, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, and so many other areas across the world, demonstrates that the world has not come to terms with its grotesque behavior then, or its ability or desire now, to prevent a repetition of genocide.

Thus, the responsibility and obligation for the future authentication of the Holocaust’s occurrence and the teaching of its underlying causes must come from future generations of knowledgeable and credible Jewish sources.

Unfortunately, some Holocaust centers, originally intended as Jewish memorials, and serious resource and education centers, are being secularized, trivializing the unique destruction of 6 million Jewish men, women and children who were enslaved, brutally tortured, the subject of barbaric medical experiments, shot, gassed and incinerated, in favor of treating the Holocaust, not as a unique Jewish historical tragedy, but as a general example of where societal hatred and prejudice can lead.

The most important source to carry on the preservation of Holocaust memory and authentication are the descendants of survivors who carry the DNA of that special generation of Jews.

It is therefore imperative that Jewish communities around the world, including Holocaust centers, synagogues and Jewish community centers begin to document well into the future the genealogy and identity of all Jewish descendants of survivors.

These future generations of survivors must be educated about their special lineage and history. They must be made aware, to paraphrase the words of the Passover Haggadah, “as if they themselves were physical survivors of the Holocaust,” of their obligation to authenticate the Holocaust and to remind the world that the Holocaust was uniquely intended to be the genocide of the Jewish People.

We have the technology to create this important world-wide data base; and we should begin developing it immediately. Any further delay may create missing links in the chain of Jewish history, especially under the current rate of increasing assimilation.

We must elevate these individuals to the status of Jewish royalty, because every birth of a Jewish survivor descendant, is and will be another victory over the Nazis and Jew haters of every past, present and future generation.

If you wish to comment or respond you can reach me at melpearlman322@gmail.com. Please do so in a rational, thoughtful, respectful and civil manner.

Mel Pearlman holds B.S. & M.S. degrees in physics as well as a J.D. degree and initially came to Florida in 1966 to work on the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He has practiced law in Central Florida since 1972. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando; was a charter board member, first vice president and pro-bono legal counsel of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida, as well as holding many other community leadership positions.