When Fascism Was Trendy on Campus
What Do You Nazi?
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When Fascism Was Trendy on Campus
Q: If you had been at university in mid-20th-century Europe when fascism was trendy on campus, what would you have done?
A: You’re doing it right now!
1 | Judenrein Then & Now
GERMANY | April 1933
Eighty students in SA uniforms occupied the Frankfurt am Main University buildings. They denied Jewish students entry into the buildings and chased those found inside off campus. (Yad Vashem)
FRANCE | May 2024
At Sciences Po (Paris), Jewish students have been denied access to facilities and harassed by violent mobs. (European Jewish Congress)
SPAIN | December 2023
At the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a poster for a pro-Palestinian demonstration called for “Zionists” to be kicked off campus. (ADL Blog)
GERMANY | November 1938
The Kristallnacht pogrom put an end to the centuries-old tradition of Jewish learning at German universities. Nazi students now blocked the entry of Jewish students to university buildings. (Yad Vashem)
UNITED STATES | April 2024
Videos taken inside the Columbia University encampment have shown protestors chanting “Zionists not allowed here” and “Go back to Poland,” and calling for “10,000 October 7ths.” | Sabrina (Jewish student): “There are students wearing yellow vests with their keffiyehs, and if they see someone engaging with someone outside the encampment, they pull them away and say, ‘You’re not allowed to talk to them.’ They say, ‘A Zionist has entered the camp.’” | Noah (Jewish student): “The campus is Judenrein now. It’s occupied territory. It’s so funny they call it a de-occupation, or liberated zone, but Jews are not allowed.” (The Times of Israel)
2 | Sticks & Stones 2023–24
BELGIUM | At Brussels Free University (ULB), Gad Deshayes, President of the Union of Jewish Students in Belgium, was beaten and insulted; a protester tried to tear down the Israeli flag Deshayes was wearing by grabbing his neck.(European Jewish Press)
FRANCE | At Sciences Po (Paris), the French Union (UEJF) held a memorial for a former student killed in the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks. The ceremony was interrupted by activists who physically harassed event organizers. (EUJS)
GERMANY | At the University of Hamburg, a Christian woman whose husband is a Jewish studies scholar was assaulted so severely at an on-campus lecture about antisemitism that she had to be hospitalized. A 26-year-old woman who was born in Somalia began at a certain point to choke and punch the scholar’s wife, throwing her to the ground and leaving her concussed. (The Times of Israel)
ITALY | At an unnamed Italian university, a Jewish student wearing a necklace with a Star of David was approached by an individual who shouted at him “Free Palestine” and spilled a drink on him. (EUJS)
THE NETHERLANDS | At the University of Amsterdam, “I was attacked by this guy in a kufiyah, and he hit me full on the head with a wooden plank in full rage. I filmed both of the guys to show their faces to the world and what I saw in his face, the pure evil and hate, reminded me of the hate I saw in the eyes of the Hamas terrorists on October 7.” (The Times of Israel)
UNITED KINGDOM | Among the incidents were a death threat to the president of the Union of Jewish Students, physical assaults including on a student whose assailant tried to rip off her Star of David necklace, and eggs thrown at students wearing kippot (skullcaps). After Jewish students set up a stall to distribute information about antisemitism and about the Israeli hostages, campus security shut it down due to a threatening mob. (ADL Blog)
UNITED STATES | The University of California at Berkeley mob shouted “global intifada,” spit on the [Jewish] students, banged on the doors and broke windows. “They grabbed me by the neck and pushed me against the wall. A student shouted at me ‘dirty Jewess’ and spat at me.” (Ynetnews) | The University of North Carolina mob stormed us. They carried their tents with them as they screamed in Arabic, “From water to water, Palestine will be Arab,” and banged on pipes. Angry protestors surrounded us on all sides, screaming for divestment from Israel and for Intifada at the tops of their lungs and throwing things at us. (The Times of Israel)
3 | Hate Speech 2023–24
AUSTRIA | A sign at the entrance to the Jewish Studies Library at the University of Vienna was vandalized with “Kill ISRAHELL.” (ADL Blog)
CANADA | A student at the University of Toronto was arrested and expelled for threatening violence. Police had to escort 200 Jewish students going from a Hillel house to a Chabad house for a Shabbat service the evening after a pro-Palestinian demonstration at McGill University. At Concordia University in Montreal, a professor called a Jewish student a “whore” and told her to “go back to Poland.” (ADL Blog)
FRANCE | A Jewish student heard a conversation between two students seated in front of him at a lecture. One said, “Those dirty Jews should all die,” and the other responded, “We have to kill them all.” At the Sorbonne University in Paris, “Death to Jews” was written on a wall. At a university in the south of France, Jewish students have completely stopped going to class out of fear for their personal safety. (ADL Blog)
GERMANY | In Germany, students have suffered verbal attacks, physical threats, hearing their peers express support for terrorism, and the dissemination of antisemitic materials on campus. (ADL Blog)
THE NETHERLANDS | At the University of The Hague on October 7th, students distributed materials glorifying the Hamas massacre, calling it “exemplary resistance,” and urging to “globalize the intifada.” (ADL Blog) | In his commencement speech at the University of Amsterdam, a Palestinian student called for Israel’s elimination “From the river to the sea.” When a Jewish student’s family objected, the audience booed them, and some individuals shouted “F*****g Jews.” University officials did not kick out the violent individuals in the crowd or condemn the episode; instead, they excluded the Jewish family from the ceremony, inviting them to celebrate their son’s graduation in a separate room. (EUJS)
SOUTH AFRICA | Hamas and Hezbollah flags were freely flown at the University of Cape Town. When Jewish students put up posters of hostages, they were threatened by a mob of about 30 people while campus security stood by and did nothing. (ADL Blog)
SPAIN | At IE University in Madrid, a soccer team wore t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” advocating the destruction of Israel. (ADL Blog)
SWITZERLAND | Noam (Geneva University student): “They sing songs calling for the rape of Jewish women. I am greeted with shouts calling me a baby killer and that my people should be screwed.” (Ynetnews)
UNITED KINGDOM | Jewish students have experienced a continuous torrent of antisemitic hatred on campus since October 7, with protesters having called to “globalize the intifada,” to support the Houthis in Yemen, and to not “engage with Zionists.” (The Times of Israel)
UNITED STATES | Organizations devoted to social justice and inclusion — from clubs representing minority student communities to socialist and environmental groups — are allying themselves with Students for Justice in Palestine, which celebrated Hamas’s savage terrorist attacks on Israel as “resistance.” (Sapir) | University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Prof. Barbara J. Risman: “When university departments and programs publish statements implying support for the destruction of the state where more than half of all Jews alive today live, they have crossed the line from simple micro-aggressions against Jewish students and faculty to outright institutional antisemitism.” (The Times of Israel)
4 | Administrative Cowardice Then & Now
GERMANY | 1933–1945
Academic administrators acquiesced in and helped carry out the expulsion of Jewish students for a number of reasons: some were convinced Nazis and radical antisemites who believed that the “cleansing” of schools was a prerequisite for the building of a new Germany; others supported the removal of non-Aryans for [opportunistic] professional reasons; still others saw permanent exclusion as the only way of restoring peace on the campuses. (Historian Stephen H. Norwood)
ITALY | 1938
On September 5th, King Emanuele signed “Measures to Defend Race in Fascist Schools.” The law expelled all Jewish students, teachers, and academics from Italian schools and universities. The reaction of the Italian academic world to the persecution of their Jewish peers was of silent connivance. (The Times of Israel)
American university administrators almost never responded to the vitriolic antisemitic statements made on campus by Hitler’s representatives or American apologists for his regime.
UNITED STATES | 1930s
In the 1930s, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and the Seven Sisters helped legitimize antisemitism by warmly welcoming Nazi leaders to campus, enrolling German exchange students trained as Nazi propagandists, and encouraging their own students to study in the Third Reich under Nazi auspices. American university administrators almost never responded to the vitriolic antisemitic statements made on campus by Hitler’s diplomatic and student representatives or American apologists for his regime. (Historian Stephen H. Norwood)
UNITED STATES | 2023:
SOURCES
Avrahami, Zeev. “‘Their songs call for the rape of Jewish women,’ Israeli student in Geneva says.” Ynetnews. 10 May 2024. <https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/hj2byoogr?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=internal">.
Bodo, Béla. “The Role of Antisemitism in the Expulsion of non-Aryan Students, 1933–1945.” Yad Vashem. Source: Yad Vashem Studies, XXX, Jerusalem 2002, pp. 189–228. <https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/academic/expulsion-of-non-aryan-students.html>.
Cohen, Nir (Shoko). “‘I felt safer in Israel than in Amsterdam,’ Dutch Jewish student says.” Ynetnews. 9 May 2024. <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sy9doo5zc>.
Di Gioacchino, Ariela, Eryn Sarkin, and Sarah Takolander. “The Rise of Antisemitism at European Universities as a Result of the October 7 Massacre.” European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS). 1 February 2024. <https://eujs.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/The-Rise-of-Antisemitism-at-European-Universities-as-a-Result-of-the-October-7-Massacre.pdf>.
Edelson, Daniel. “Violent riots erupt at UC Berkeley over Israeli speaker.” Ynetnews. 27 February 2024. <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hyqen9ont#autoplay>.
“EJC calls on Europe’s university rectors to protect Jewish students.” European Jewish Congress (EJC). 9 May 2024. <https://eurojewcong.org/ejc-in-action/statements/ejc-calls-on-europes-university-rectors-to-protect-jewish-students/>.
Goldman, Alana. “The protests aren’t peaceful: Believe their calls for intifada.” The Times of Israel. 17 May 2024. <https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-protests-arent-peaceful-believe-their-calls-for-intifada/?_gl=1*17gadmn*_ga*MTEyMjcwODgzNC4xNzAxMDI1MzM3*_ga_RJR2XWQR34*MTcxNjMwODMwNC41OTEuMS4xNzE2MzA4NDY0LjAuMC4w>.
Horovitz, David. “The goal of the campus Jew-haters: To render Israel indefensible, in both senses of the word.” The Times of Israel. 24 April 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-goal-of-the-campus-jew-haters-to-render-israel-indefensible-in-both-senses-of-the-word/>.
Hurwitz, Sarah. “To Jewish College Students Who Are Scared.” Sapir. 10 November 2023. <https://sapirjournal.org/war-in-israel/2023/11/to-jewish-college-students-who-are-scared/>.
Kotek, Joël. “Belgium — a laboratory for European antisemitism?” K. 16 May 2024. <https://k-larevue.com/en/belgium-a-laboratory-for-european-antisemitism/>.
Lempkowicz, Yossi. “Jewish students attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters at Brussels university campus.” European Jewish Press. 8 May 2024. <https://ejpress.org/jewish-students-attacked-by-pro-palestinian-protesters-at-brussels-university-campus/>.
Lidor, Canaan. “‘Good Jews oppose Zionism’: French Jewish students say campus no longer a safe space.” The Times of Israel. 5 May 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/good-jews-oppose-zionism-french-jewish-students-say-campus-no-longer-a-safe-space/>.
Lidor, Canaan. “On Europe’s campuses, explosions of violent antisemitism have become de rigueur.” The Times of Israel.15 May 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/on-europes-campuses-explosions-of-violent-antisemitism-have-become-de-rigueur/>.
Norwood, Stephen H. [“Introduction: During the 1930s, America’s most prominent colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and the Seven Sisters, helped legitimize antisemitism.”] (n.d.) <https://sicsa.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/sicsa/files/acta34.pdf>.
Porat, Atar. “The mythologization of anti-Israel campus protests.” Ynetnews. 16 May 2024. <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skahaiqm0>.
Prince, Cathryn J. “As Columbia anti-Israel encampment endures, Jewish students horrified by ‘Judenrein’ campus.” The Times of Israel. 25 April 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-anti-israel-encampment-at-columbia-endures-jewish-students-lament-judenrein-campus/>.
Prince, Cathryn J. “Retiring early due to antisemitism, a professor paints a dire picture of US academia.” The Times of Israel. 21 May 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/retiring-early-due-to-antisemitism-a-professor-paints-a-dire-picture-of-us-academia/?utm_campaign=most_popular&utm_source=website&utm_medium=article_end&utm_content=4>.
Srulevitch, Andrew. “Campus Antisemitism is Reverberating Around the Globe.” ADL Blog. 8 December 2023. <https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/campus-antisemitism-reverberating-around-globe>.
Stamler, Hannah. “WWII’s Refugee Academics and the Myth of a Welcoming American Academy.” The Nation. 26 February 2020. <https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/laurel-leff-well-worth-saving-book-review/>.
Tercatin, Rossella. “Italian universities to apologize for expelling Jewish staff, students in WWII.” The Times of Israel. 5 September 2018.<https://www.timesofisrael.com/italian-universities-to-apologize-for-expelling-jewish-staff-students-in-wwii/>.
TOI Staff. “Echoing US encampments, anti-Israel students across Britain launch campus protests.” The Times of Israel. 2 May 2024. <https://www.timesofisrael.com/echoing-us-encampments-anti-israel-students-across-britain-launch-campus-protests/>.
It is often said that history repeats itself. This is not a quaint utterance, rather it is truth. It is often said that those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. This is also the truth. I say that Jews do no have to fall victim to history's lessons. What was does not have to be what is.
I feel sick with horror!