Topline
Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff on Friday visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland to mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, part of a broader European trip to honor victims of the Holocaust, educate the public and combat antisemitism as attacks and hostility towards Jewish people around the world ticks upward.
Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff holds a candle during the commemorations on the International … [+]
Key Facts
Emhoff was one of a number of government officials from various countries to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, the site of the largest German Nazi extermination camp where some 1.1 million people were murdered.
Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a U.S. president or vice president, toured the memorial and took part in wreath-laying and candle-lighting ceremonies.
He then joined Holocaust survivors and other officials at a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp’s liberation by Soviet forces in 1945.
The visit is part of a broader, six-day trip in Poland and Germany that reportedly includes a stop at Oskar Schindler’s factory, a Shabbat dinner with members of Krakow’s Jewish community, a meeting with Ukrainian refugees, a meeting of European officials involved in fighting antisemitism in Berlin as well as other historic and cultural sites.
The White House said the purpose of the trip is to “combat antisemitism” and “support Holocaust remembrance.”
Emhoff reacts after laying wreaths honoring victims of the Nazi regime.
Key Background
The International Holocaust Memorial Day commemorates the millions of people murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War 2. The Nazis killed around 6 million men, women and children in the Holocaust, mostly Jews, but they also targeted other groups including Roma, people with disabilities and gay and lesbian people. Emhoff’s visit follows a spate of high-profile antisemitic incidents in the U.S., including public comments by Kanye West and former President Donald Trump’s unabashed associations with an outspoken antisemite and Holocaust denier. This is part of a wider trend and hate towards Jewish people is on the rise around globally, including in the U.S. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog on Thursday warned that antisemitism is rising in the Western world and urged leaders to take strong action to combat it.
Emhoff walks past the main gate of the former Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
Crucial Quote
Writing jointly in The Times of Israel with Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism who has joined him on the European trip, said the trip to Europe was motivated by the upswing in antisemitism “at home and abroad” in recent years. “As we reflect on history, we know that the bigotry that fueled the Holocaust did not end when the camps were liberated,” the pair wrote, adding: “It is time — yet again — for us to replace the silence, of the past and present, with a chorus of voices making antisemitism a relic and this horrific hatred a thing of the past.”
US Ambassador in Poland Mark Brzezinski and Emhoff place candles during the commemorations.
Emhoff lays a wreath at the so-called Death Wall at the site of the Memorial and Museum … [+]
Further Viewing
Further Reading
Kanye West’s Antisemitic, Troubling Behavior—Here’s Everything He’s Said In Recent Weeks (Forbes)
Antisemitism is on the rise, and it’s not just about Ye (NPR)
“I Didn’t Expect to Feel [This] Way”: An Afternoon Making Matzo With Doug Emhoff (Politico)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/01/27/second-gentleman-doug-emhoff-visits-auschwitz-in-fight-against-rising-antisemitism/