In the decades that followed, a desire among many Germans to deflect or repress guilt for the Holocaust led to a new form of antipathy toward Jews — a phenomenon that came to be known as ‘secondary anti-Semitism,’ in which Germans resent Jews for reminding them of their guilt, reversing the victim and perpetrator roles. ‘It seems the Germans will never forgive us Auschwitz,’ Hilde Walter, a German-Jewish journalist, was quoted as saying in 1968. NYT – The New German Anti Semitism

I read an article today about the current anti-semitism in Germany. It is different than WW2 at the moment, but similar to the many issues of denial in many countries. In our desire to never feel shame or guilt we always deflect even if it means trying to to turn the real victims into perpetrators to make ourselves feel better. We never address what we did. We need to stop focusing on individual responsibility and focus on group responsibility. When Jews talk about WW2 Germany and how it affected them they are talking about WW2 Germany, not you. When they are talking about about modern day Germany its about Germany as a whole, not you. When a woman talks about rape culture she is talking about over all attitudes, not you. When a POC is talking about systemic racism, troubles with profiling, cops, etc. They are talking about overall, broad strokes. Not you, not your grandpa, your parents, etc. they don’t know them. They just know the world around them. The world where they have to hide their religion, dress a certain way, take a certain path to their car, assume a particular demeanor or attitude, change speech patterns.
When I went to South Dakota I heard from some Lakota who just wanted an official apology an actual “I’m sorry”. And I puzzled over why for so long. Why does it matter if all these people who did do the actual injustice apologize? But I also didn’t see why it would hurt. Now I think I get it. If we today apologize as a group for our groups past failings (whether that be silence or active harm towards them by an ancestor) we acknowledge their pain. We acknowledge that what happened to their ancestors does affect them today. They live in a world where they have been forgotten and ignored. Where we say “just get up and move on”. But its hard to move on when you don’t know where too. Where are the people who accept you? Where are the people who can teach you not to live in hiding? Who will stand up for you when you encounter those who have learned their racism from their parents and grandparents? Things do not change over night. If they did I doubt the Lakota, the Jews, POC, LGBTQ, any marginalized group would ask for an apology. Why? They’d already be on equal footing. Able to enjoy the world as any other human. Instead there is something holding them back. People tell them their concerns are fake while groups of white boys shout slurs a hatred while marching with fire. While their child gets kicked in the back because he dared to mention in passing he’s Jewish, their child is murdered on his way to church cause he was black and the cop didn’t realize he was just holding the lug wrench cause he was about to change his flat tire. I think an apology would do us good. I think we are jumpy cause we know things aren’t even made right in the most basic sense. An apology might be all we can do, but if the apology is sincere we might be able to move on.