I know the neo-nazi movement is alive and thriving. A neo-nazi brought a gun to my local highschool during Hanukkah and flaunted it around. Never in my life have I been more thankful to be homeschooled. And never in my life had I been so scared for the Jews who weren’t.
Reading Hitlers own account of how he came to be an anti-semite made me sick. And knowing what he would do to my people made it worse.
I think I’ve just viewed Hitler as a pillar of anti-semitism, and never gave any thought into how he became that way. I guess I assumed that he never liked Jews. And yet here I was reading how he went from feeling neutral, to hating us with his entire being.
Just the thought of him not hating Jews made me feel unwell. But reading of how he, a relatively normal man up until a certain point, came to think of us as less than human? That just made me sad.
He details how he genuinely struggled with the very concept of anti-semitism, how it was hard for him to come face-to-face with the “reality” of it all. It really made me think that anybody, if presented with the right kind of evidence, could change their beliefs. Even to the point of wishing an entire culture, one that you’ve only had the briefest of experiences with, was completely. eradicated.
I don’t like that one bit.
But he doesn’t like me one bit. So I guess it evens out somehow.
All of this aside, I’d love to see his reaction to seeing a Jewish kid reading his work with their friend, both of which are laughing at him. But from a distance, I’d rather not get killed by him. I have a point to prove.