Trudy Gold
Nazis and Jews: 1933-1939
Summary
This session will tell the story of German Jewry and the how this vibrant productive people were gradually economically, socially and politically isolated from the world many of them had come to love. It also illustrates how so-called ‘decent’ Germans could sanction the unimaginable.
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
Yes, you see, that’s greed as well. Look, you’ve always wanted that big job and now you’ve got a better chance of getting it.
Yes, religion’s got nothing to do with it. You see, that’s the problem, Marilyn. It’s not a Jewish definition of what is a Jew. It’s a Nazi definition. You see, it’s a complicated one, what is a Jew? Who’s asking? And I think also, I was having a discussion with friends about this. What does the word “Jew” mean? If you asked me to define Christian, I think it would be much easier. I think we would say it was someone who believed in the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. But if you ask Jew, it’s much more than, to some people it’s religion, to others its national, Zionism, national. To others, it’s cultural. David Baddiel had an interesting article in “The Times.” He is a cultural Jew. A lot of my friends consider themselves to be cultural Jews. Hitler said the Jews are a race. No we’re not, we know that. There is no such thing as a pure race, but the Nazis believed it was about Jewish blood. You’ve got to stop using your rational faculties when you deal with Nazism, ‘cause you won’t get it. If you are being bright and a creature of the Enlightenment, you won’t get Nazism. You have to go into quote-unquote, “The dark night of the soul.”
You see, that’s such a complicated question, Nikki. Why did, it was difficult to emigrate. It was very difficult, and as time went on, it got harder. What if you have a sick mother? What if you have a vulnerable child? What if you believe, you don’t have languages and it’s scary? And you have no money anyway? You know, there are so many reasons people didn’t leave, and when in the end they wanted to, and I would say after Kristallnacht, I’ve discussed this with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, just to remind you, on Saturday, she will be speaking briefly because it’s the liberation, it’s to commemorate liberation of Belsen, she said, because her parents were such loyal Germans, they were so cultured. They, after Kristallnacht, she said, “We all wanted to get out. But by then, there were very few places left to go.” I will give you that next week.