Durham, NC, United States At the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, members of the local Jewish community said on Wednesday that recent acts of anti-Semitism show that hatred continues to live on and is not just a relic of the past.
January 27 is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by Allied soldiers in 1945, near the end of World War II.
But 76 years later, anti-Semitism is growing in the United States. The Anti-Defamation League reports that incidents nationwide increased in 2016 – 1,324 incidents were reported in that year, compared to 63 in 2015 – and has since continued to rise steadily to nearly 6,300 incidents last year.
“We do not believe that something like the Holocaust can happen again. The Holocaust happened. It was done by people,” said Rabbi Daniel Greyber of the Beth El Synagogue in Durham.
Last week, a Nazi flag was found on a tree near Wake Forest, next to a campaign sign for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Over the weekend, hookups, racial barriers and threats were found in a building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which serves as a hub for student social justice groups.
“Swastikas are symbols of hatred against the Jewish people, but they are also symbols of hatred against America,” Greyber said. “The idea that someone can place it in a public place and somehow associate it with being a patriot is disgusting and makes no sense.”
Former President Donald Trump and the fierce political climate are partly to blame for the problem, Greyber said.
“I do think that President Trump has given permission, in large and small ways, to many people who have such opinions that in the past were really not OK in the public sphere. [or] in public speech, “he said.”[They] have now gained a certain … acceptance, or people feel that there was a leader who was on the same page as them. ‘
After a day, someone cut and removed the Nazi flag in Wake County. UNC campus police said they had identified a suspect in the vandalism there, but did not charge anyone on Wednesday night.
The UNC Chapel Hill Faculty Executive Committee organized a special meeting on vandalism on Friday.
“When people see hook boxes being placed in public places on a more regular basis, it’s what we see that hatred is allowed to flourish,” Greyber said. “It gives us a sense of concern because we, like other minorities, are not in the majority, and so we live with a certain vulnerability.”