Casual Antisemitism Still Stuns
Last month, I took a trip to Pismo Beach, California, for my girlfriend’s birthday. It was supposed to be a relaxing drive up the coast that included lots of beach and pool time. However the times we live in struck, and struck hard, and I was reminded again that one of the points from a previous article always holds true: We no longer live in an America where antisemitism is a fringe idea.
Not only is it not a fringe idea at this point, but it is also considered socially acceptable now to publicly state “I hate Jews,” or the equivalent.
I grew up in California, and beach life is second nature to me. I’ve always loved it. I feel as comfortable in the water as I feel on land. I was the kid whose parents had to beg me, or offer various deals/punishments, to get me out of the swimming pool. I’d swim for hours. For me there is an intersection of summer/beach/pool/coast that equals a sense of relaxation/inner peace/optimism that I just don’t feel in other places, or even during the rest of the year. It’s a cliché, but it’s basically the California thing that the Beach Boys sang about.
When we left Los Angeles for Pismo and took my car up Pacific Coast Highway, top down of course, I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend, which was much needed in the midst of what has, personally, been a very hard year.
On day one, we explored downtown Pismo and then headed for our hotel’s pool. In fact, we had chosen this hotel specifically because it had a great pool, situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The entire situation had all had the ingredients of a perfect summer getaway, California style.
Upon arrival, we went straight to the pool, then headed for the Jazuzzi.
I’m generally not a social guy, but I can activate “social mode” when I need to. I was relieved that I didn’t need to; the jacuzzi was empty. That didn’t last.
I sighed inwardly when I spotted three of the other hotel guests heading our way. There were two women and a man, all in their late 50s and early 60s. It seemed normal enough. Normal, suburban LA types. We all spoke about the usual things: where we were all from (they were from Ventura, just north of Los Angeles), what we all do for a living (he was an attorney), what we had planned for the weekend (they had just come back from some very expensive wine tasting, which was made VERY clear by the rude bragging about how much they spent on one bottle).
It was the type of small talk that I’m personally not a fan of, but it was harmless.
At one point, a discussion began about the military, specifically the difference between joining now versus when we were all growing up. As it happened, none of us had served, but we all had relatives who had. I offered that my father was a World War II vet, whose 18th birthday was December 7, 1941—the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, sending the United States into the war. He was drafted shortly afterward.
I commented, “He survived the Depression, and his 18th birthday gift was ‘Congratulations, now you have to go to war.’” Ironically, after basic training, he was sent to Hawaii and stationed at Schofield Barracks. Schofield had been one of the Japanese targets during the attack on Pearl Harbor. You can still see the bullet holes today.
My dad never experienced combat. He served as a tank mechanic, rose to master sergeant, and was one of the thousands of American GIs in Hawaii mobilizing for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, which each believed to be imminent. Thank G-d that invasion never materialized. He and his friends all knew that they probably wouldn’t be coming home.
My girlfriend’s father was also a WWII vet. He was present at the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. He served throughout the war as a Navy signalman and saw naval combat in the Pacific theater.
We are both extremely proud of our fathers’ service to this nation during one of the most horrific, yet most honorable, wars in human history. I am proud that my father was one of thousands of Jewish soldiers who were willing to risk their lives for this country. Whenever I speak about his service during the war, I know that my pride, as well as how much I miss him, are both apparent.
The conversation that day was no exception.
After we both told these people about our fathers, the man in the group offered that his uncle served during WWII. So far, it was pretty routine stuff, but that was about to change dramatically.
At that point, the wife said something that seemed kind of off. She said, “Our family was in Germany.” That was it. Germany. No details. Just family, in Germany.
Wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt, and remember that this started as a general conversation about military service, I said “Oh, was it at Ramstein Air Base?” (Ramstein was a major American installation during the Cold War; among others, Elvis Presley served there.)
She appeared to not know what I was talking about. So, I repeated, “Do you mean Ramstein? Was your relative stationed in West Germany?”
Then came a reply that made left me ice cold: “No. My uncle was in the Hitler Youth.”
There are many Americans who had family in Hitler’s military. So that, by itself, was not antisemitic. It was just shocking that she was so casual in her disclosure.
But there was more.
I commented that was unfortunate for her family, stunned that her attitude had been so incredibly casual. But the truly stunning part came next.
Her response to me? “Well, the Hitler youth started as a good thing. It only became bad later on.”
Yeah. The HITLER Youth started as a “good thing.”
The hubris, arrogance and total lack of embarrassment was shocking—and I never shock easily.
It is not in the scope of this article to go through the history of the Hitler Youth, but I should NOT have to explain to anyone reading this why absolutely nothing about it was “good.” Long before its formation, Hitler wrote about his violent hatred for the Jewish people, and EVERYTHING he did reflected that hatred.
My response: “I’m Jewish, I disagree, and there was no aspect of the Hitler Youth that was positive in any conceivable way.”
What I really wanted to do was shove her over the cliff, but that is, apparently, not socially acceptable. The conversation degenerated from there.
This was not the first time I’ve been face to face with blatant antisemitism. It wasn’t even the 10th time, or the 25th time (my personal history with it may be the subject of a future article).
But it was the first time that someone felt so comfortable telling me that a family member was a Nazi. She literally said it with pride. Mentioning that I am Jewish didn’t dim that pride one bit. In fact, afterward I began to think that my Jewishness is what drove her to comment so casually. While we come in different shapes and colors, I definitely “look” Jewish.
The fact that she was telling the entire thing to two children, not grandchildren, of two WWII vets made all of this, almost inconceivably, even MORE heinous.
Things have changed a lot. Never before would someone in that setting feel comfortable announcing that there is not only nothing to be ashamed of in relating that a close relative was a Nazi, but that there were aspects of Nazism which “started off” as something positive. It’s even more unthinkable that such a person would show no reaction at all to finding out that she was saying all of this to a Jew.
She didn’t show even a slight sign of embarrassment.
The fact that it was merely an uncle that she was proud of, made me wonder why she never mentioned a father, or grandfather. They were German too. What did they do during the war? Is it possible that she only felt comfortable defending the Hitler Youth at this point? Maybe things haven’t degraded enough for her to openly defend a member of the Wehrmacht or SS. Why, given that she had male relatives of military age on both sides of her family, did she mention only the one young enough to have been in the Hitler Youth? Given that she never mentioned even a single American relative who served, and said that her family “was in Germany” throughout the war, it’s logical to conclude that there are even darker details that she chose not to relate.
That she looked stereotypically Aryan made this all the more chilling.
Our culture has shifted. We are once again in a place, physically and temporally, where antisemitism is socially acceptable. That makes California more like 1930s Germany than the laid-back coastal semi-paradise that I grew up in. As Jews, we need to be aware of that fact, and of every other societal change that affects us. As American Jews, we need to start learning Hebrew.
Never back down. Never be afraid.
Am Yisrael chai!
JOSHUA NAMM is a longtime Jewish community pro, passionate Israel advocate, and co-founder/co-CEO of Moptu, a unique social platform designed specifically for article sharing and dedicated to the principle of free speech.
