Perhaps you have heard “don’t bite the bait that leads to hate,” a call made popular by Jack Adler, a Colorado resident who survived the Dachau concentration camp, among other camps. On May 3, 2015, I had the privilege of sitting with Jack Adler on the former roll call grounds at Dachau as Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke at a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.
I was in Germany on a Jewish communal professionals mission. Due to the generosity of MDC Richmond American Homes, I represented the Anti-Defamation League and joined with representatives of The Mizel Institute, JEWISHcolorado, the Rocky Mountain Rabbinical Council and the Intermountain Jewish News to bear witness to the horrors of that dark time in human history. Our delegation included members of the Colorado and Oklahoma National Guard, with whom we bonded and shared the transformative experience. During our days in Germany, I deepened my understanding of the valuable lessons that the Holocaust has to teach and met representatives of the thriving and impressive Jewish community in Munich, where we spent most of the trip.
I was surprised to discover that this trip would teach me, above all other lessons, about forgiveness. I stared evil in the face while I was in Munich and Dachau, and I experienced a personal transformation. I was no longer consumed with fear of and resentment towards the perpetrators of the Holocaust. I was able to confront the perpetrators by visiting their former meeting spaces, the Nuremberg courtroom, the Nazi rally grounds and Dachau. I mourned for the victims at memorials and at mass gravesites. I stood on the exact spot where Hitler led numerous, hateful rallies. These experiences enabled me to leave Germany having shed much of the fear and resentment, replacing those feelings with an increased drive to work towards justice. I learned that forgiveness does not mean letting the Nazis and their conspirators “off the hook,” but rather transforming their actions into personal opportunities for positive contributions to my community.
Another way in which the mission left an impression on me concerns the power of living with one’s history. Holocaust-related museums, memorials, plaques and informational boards have been constructed throughout Munich. These pieces confront the city’s residents as they go about living their daily lives. The many tour and museum guides spend each day recounting their nation’s dark past. I wonder what it would be like if I walked past a memorial to the injustices perpetrated against the Japanese in Colorado during World War II as I entered my bank. How would my daily life be changed if the Sand Creek Massacre was memorialized in the center of my shopping mall? When was the last time I thought about the impact of Colorado government offices having been held by members and sympathizers of the Ku Klux Klan? Amid all of the wonderful work our community does to promote respect and fight hate, I cannot help but wonder about this aspect of living with this type of history in this way.
With these lessons, I returned to Colorado even more impassioned to work towards a world free of bias and bigotry. Like others who devote time and energy to fighting injustice, as an Anti-Defamation League employee, I am equipped with the tools necessary to translate the lessons from my trip to Germany into action that contributes to an inclusive, respectful Colorado. Please join me.
Shayna Alexander, Assistant Director of Development
Anti-Defamation League, Mountain States Region