By Art Zygielbaum, Nebraska Appleseed Board Member. Originally published in the Lincoln Journal Star.
Today I am afraid for this nation, this America where I was born and where I have always lived.
My wife, son and I recently traveled to Poland to connect to our roots. We visited the hamlet where my paternal grandfather was born, the town where my mother was born, and the concentration camps where much of my extended family perished. Because my grandfather, Szmul Arthur Zygielbojm, is considered a hero in Poland, we were accorded incredible courtesies. We spent an hour having coffee with the Polish Secretary of State. The Mayor of Chelm, Poland, took us on a walking tour of the city.
We stood in the town square in Slawkow, Poland, where the Nazis rounded up all the Jews in the town. My mother and her elder sister were directed to trucks that would take them to slave labor camps. Her parents and younger sister were directed to trucks that would take them to be murdered. Her older brother had been picked up off the streets earlier. His fate is not known.
Jews, as a class, were scapegoats for Nazi society. Hitler carefully taught his people that Jews were responsible for all the ills that befell post-World War I Germany. The Nazis proclaimed themselves as the master race to which all others were subservient. Poles, Czechs, anyone not “Aryan” were lesser beings. Jews were subhuman.
Any time people are identified as a class rather than as individuals, we dehumanize them. We risk ignoring the many contributions those individuals make to our society. As a class, without evidence or statistical data, they can be accused of horrific crimes.
Hitler achieved control of the good people of Germany a step at a time. He took over the government placing his “yes” men in charge. He recreated the legislative branch as a staff organization to his administration. He replaced judges at all levels with people who “agreed” with him. He obliterated the “lying press.” He eliminated opposing political parties. He carefully controlled the content of libraries and museums. And he dictated what should be taught in schools.
I fear what is happening in America. The parallels to Germany in the 1930s are obvious. We are encouraged to see immigrants as a “class,” not as individuals. The undocumented (“illegal”) immigrant class is accused of heinous crimes. Yet the statistics show that U.S.-born citizens are much more likely to commit those crimes.
We have unmarked cars and masked ICE or police agents rounding up immigrants on the street. We handcuff children, and we separate them from their parents. And the children’s crime? They were born to undocumented immigrants — people not likely to be involved in crimes, people who generally act as supportive members of their communities and people who hold productive jobs in many skill areas.
Many children separated from their parents during the first Trump administration have yet to be reunited with their families. Is that something we Americans should take pride in?
During our trip, my son and I stood in the gas chamber at Auschwitz. Zyklon B causes an excruciatingly painful death. You could see the scratch marks on the walls made by people desperately trying to claw their escape. They and their children died. Their crime? They were not the accepted class of people. They were declared guilty of heinous but non-existent crimes.
My son is a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles County. He is one of the two prosecutors who specialize in complex cases involving the murders of children. He faces the horrible deaths of children every day. Then he goes home to his own young kids.
My tough son wept in that gas chamber. He wept for the men, the women and the children who died. He wept for the fact that people were murdered to fulfill a government’s need to provide a distraction from real problems and to demonstrate action remediating falsely generated fear.
I am very proud of my son.
With all my heart, I hope that I can one day become proud of my country again.