Observing Evil

     Recently I posted a quote by Albert Einstein, saying that sitting by and allowing or watching evil was worse than evil itself.  I have felt this many times.  Einstein was one of the lucky ones who got to come to America
before WWII got out of hand in Europe, him being a Jew.  This may have been due to his scientific knowledge, being a genius.  As great as F. D. R. was the U. S. had a closed door policy.  This is why many Jews went to Australia and Africa if they were able to escape the Nazi Holocaust in time. 
     I have read many books on the Nazi Holocaust that went on all through Europe, Germany, France, The Netherlands.  People always put it all on Hitler, but the
whole non-Jewish society went along with his ideas.  Jewish children not only had to wear gold stars, but could not go to school.  They had no rights, like black people before civil rights changed things gradually.
     One exception and I am sure of many was Shcindler, like in Schindler's List, Corrie Ten Boom, the Christian family in Amsterdam where the Hiding Place is still a 
place of Christian pilgrimage.  They went to concentration camp for hiding Jews and I believe she was the only survivor.  And I am sure there were some kind people who wanted to help the Jews but it put their lives in danger, so it took being a martyr to actually do anything to help and in all fairness this is hard to be.
     I understand that in the bad economy in Germany, Hitler, who was a Socialist, by the way, not that Socialism is bad, it just happens to be, blamed the Jews who were often prosperous, but I have read many books about the holocaust, and the percentage of Jews who actually held doctor and lawyer positions was actually small in comparison to the actual population.  So, once they were carted up, packed onto trains like sardines, men, women and children to supposed work camps mainly to die, the Gentiles stole their businesses and homes and thus benefited from these people's misfortunes.
     I know every intelligent person knows all this and we could think of lots and lots of injustices in the world.  It is just that the Einstein quote makes me think of this.
     Also I have heard and researched that Antisemitism is on the rise in Europe and I encounter it often.  People make fun of Jews, stereotype them.  I am Jewish, half Jewish and I find this a frightening thing, not because I feel personally threatened, but because it saddens me that any of this even occurred and I feel that enough is enough.  
    I realize as well that genocide and so called 'ethnic cleansing' occurs throughout the world on various levels and this is just one example, but what a huge
example.
     There is a Leonard Cohen song called Joan of Arc, which was sung by Judy Collins on an LP which I think I still own somewhere, but one line says, referring to Joan of Arc burning at the stake, "myself, I've longed for love and light, but must it come so cruel, must it be so bright...La, la, la,..."  Holocaust really means a type of fire, and in reality a lot of it was a fire.  
     Recently, I saw on the news that a U.S. soldier fired on civilians, killing women and children in Afghanistan.  This is so wrong, so wrong, that words are too lame to even say how wrong it is.  The president spoke, Obama, offering kind words, but there is no excuse and no one knows why.  Perhaps it was PTSD, a fourth tour in the armed forces, but there really is no reason that makes sense.  I am sad for them all.