Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs unveiled 60 new Stolpersteine in Hoogeveen on Friday. Current events in Israel and Gaza had a major impact on the meeting.
The Chief Rabbi called in Hoogeveen not to again look away from the recent events in Israel, as he said 90 percent of the population did during the Second World War.
“Why would it be different then than now?” Jacobs said in De Tamboer, prior to the unveiling of 60 new Stolpersteine at the last residential addresses of murdered Jews in Hoogeveen.
“The herd, who chooses the easiest way and lets it happen, must hear our message. We have to be careful that the herd doesn’t go in the wrong direction.”
Stamp
Although the unveiling of the memorial stones took center stage in Hoogeveen, current events in Israel and Gaza had a major impact on the meeting.
It was even uncertain whether the meeting in Hoogeveen would go ahead, given the fear of violence against Jewish institutions and individuals. For example, Jewish schools in Amsterdam remained closed on Friday.
‘Don’t give in’
That measure followed a call from the radical Islamic militia Hamas for Muslims worldwide to ‘take to the streets in anger’ today in support of the Palestinians. “But we do not want to give in to terror,” said Mayor Karel Loohuis. “That is exactly what terrorists want.”
Additional security measures were taken on Friday around the unveiling of the Stolpersteine in Hoogeveen. Visible, among other things, through law enforcement officers on the street, but also not visible.
‘Unacceptable’
In his speech, Chief Rabbi Jacobs called it ‘unacceptable’ that today in many schools teachers are afraid to speak about the events of the Second World War and the Holocaust. “But we’ll let it happen.”
Chairman Eddy Seinen of the Hoogeveense Memorial Stones Foundation also regretted this. “There are groups that, despite all hard and tangible evidence, continue to deny that this genocide took place at the time.”
Mayor Loohuis, who himself was a history teacher for a number of years, agreed with this. “In my time there was no fear of talking about the Holocaust,” he said. “I can’t imagine what that must be like when you stand in front of the classroom and perhaps feel that fear.”
Muslims
According to Chief Rabbi Jacobs, anti-Semitism has never gone away, but it is too easy to point the finger at Muslims. “That’s a huge generalization,” he says. “Most victims of the terrorist organization IS are Muslims.”
“And,” he continued, “during the Second World War there were no Muslims here, but 80 percent of the Jewish community was murdered.” Among the Muslims are terrorists who not only target Israel, but who also taking the residents of Gaza hostage, is Jacobs’ explanation.