Emhoff says dark Auschwitz visit key to work on anti-Semitism
Friday was the 78th anniversary of the camp’s liberation on January 27, 1945, with celebrations the second gentleman joined. He laid a wreath in front of an execution wall and listened to the survivors reminisce about what they had suffered there.
He followed this visit with other events allowing him to learn more about the tragic fate of the Jews in Europe. On Saturday, he visited the Oskar Schindler enamel factory in Krakow, where he saw an exhibit on “Schindler’s List”, the 1,000 Jews saved by the German industrialist during the Holocaust.
On Saturday evening, he took part in a Shabbat dinner with members of Krakow’s Jewish community, a chance to see how Jewish life is developing again in central Europe.
Emhoff is the first Jewish wife of an American president or vice-president. He is on a six-day tour of Poland and Germany with the aim of advancing the Biden administration’s work in the fight against anti-Semitism. He described anti-Semitism as a growing problem around the world and in the United States.
He exposed ‘so-called’ leaders who use anti-Semitism to promote their agendas and those who lack the courage to confront them at a time of deadly attacks on Jewish communities, hateful threats and anti-Semitic lies .
“Before, people were afraid to say those ugly epithets and lie out loud. Now they literally shout them. We are seeing an epidemic of hate in the United States and around the world,” Emhoff said at the start of a panel discussion on anti-Semitism held at the Jewish Museum of Galicia.
He did not cite any particular incident. But in recent months, former President Donald Trump has hosted Holocaust denier white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida; rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, expressed his love for Adolf Hitler in an interview; basketball star Kyrie Irving appeared to be promoting an anti-Semitic film on social media; neo-Nazi trolls clamor to return to Twitter as new CEO Elon Musk grants ‘amnesty’ to suspended accounts.
washingtonpost Gt
