Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the number of reports of anti-Semitism in the Netherlands has risen considerably. Education, especially about the Holocaust, is seen as a crucial weapon against Jewish hatred. We are talking about it with two guest teachers. “Teachers think it is complicated at this time to start a conversation about the Holocaust.”
Alex Waterman is a guest speaker in training at Stichting after the war. He emphasizes the need to keep talking about the Holocaust. “Six million Jews were killed. That seems just one number, but that is six million people with names. More than a hundred of them are family of mine.”
“In times of anti -Semitism and Muslim hatred, it is important that children learn to empathize with others,” explains experienced guest teacher Saskia Goldschmidt. But just now, teachers find it complicated to start the conversation about the Holocaust, she notes. “Because there are so many different emotions around Israel and Palestine.”
Hitlergewut and swastikas
A number of young people confirm that anti -Semitism also plays in their environment. For example, a first class girl says that she sometimes sees the Hitler salute. “Also at school, swastikas are sometimes drawn. I say something about it occasionally, but then only stupid laughter.” A final exam student indicates that he sometimes hears the word ‘Jew’ as a swear word. “Still a piece of anti -Semitism that has left in society.”
Last month, the Jewish School Cheider in Buitenveldert received an email in which threatened to shootthree children. The school has been heavily protected for years by, among other things, a steel fence, cameras and police officers.
The last known figures are reported by the reporting point.online discrimination. The hotline sees an increase of 48 percent of reports of online anti -Semitism one year after 7 October 2023.
A year ago we talked to the National Coordinator Anti -Semitism, Eddo Verdoner. In it he said that a peak is always seen in the number of reports of anti-Semitism when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flares up again. “But as intense as we’ve seen it now, we have never experienced. “
Delusions
Verdoner also emphasized the importance of education about Judaism and Holocaust. “Anti -Semitism often arises from conspiracy theories that Jews would have world dominance, for example. And many of those conspiracies arise because people encounter few Jews in daily life.” According to Verdoner, it would therefore be easier to have delusions about Jews.