Thank you for your writing of Maus and anti-semitism. I care about justice and I want everyone to understand that diminishing other people diminishes oneself.
Thank you for this thoughtful essay! I’m thinking too of my children, who are now one more generation away from the Holocaust, and unlike me never knew personally any survivors. And their father is not Jewish. There’s a yearning in me to find reasons for them to WANT to be Jewish, other than the “we need to survive” (the reason I was given most often, implied if not verbalized). But if they aren’t compelled to continue in some way the Jewish community/identity/culture then what you’re saying is maybe racism/the majority will still consider them Jewish, and thus as Jews they survive. I’m getting a bit muddled. My mom (whose father survived by being hidden by gentiles in a barn in Poland) used to always say it didn’t matter if I considered myself Jewish--the nazis would have rounded me up. I had to apologize to her for my skepticism all those years! She was right that at any moment we might need to run.
Thank you. This is a perfect lesson for me today. I read Maus when it was first published. Both my children read it. I appreciate your explanation of how anti-semitism is a form of racism. Per usual Toni Morrison's grace and intelligence mesmerize me.
Thank you for your writing of Maus and anti-semitism. I care about justice and I want everyone to understand that diminishing other people diminishes oneself.
Thank you for this thoughtful essay! I’m thinking too of my children, who are now one more generation away from the Holocaust, and unlike me never knew personally any survivors. And their father is not Jewish. There’s a yearning in me to find reasons for them to WANT to be Jewish, other than the “we need to survive” (the reason I was given most often, implied if not verbalized). But if they aren’t compelled to continue in some way the Jewish community/identity/culture then what you’re saying is maybe racism/the majority will still consider them Jewish, and thus as Jews they survive. I’m getting a bit muddled. My mom (whose father survived by being hidden by gentiles in a barn in Poland) used to always say it didn’t matter if I considered myself Jewish--the nazis would have rounded me up. I had to apologize to her for my skepticism all those years! She was right that at any moment we might need to run.
Thank you. This is a perfect lesson for me today. I read Maus when it was first published. Both my children read it. I appreciate your explanation of how anti-semitism is a form of racism. Per usual Toni Morrison's grace and intelligence mesmerize me.
Excellent and thought-provoking column. Articulates a lot of what I've felt but haven't quite been able to articulate. Well done, Sean.