Never Again?

On any given day in France or Germany, a Jewish cemetery is vandalized; a synagogue is defaced; a Jew is physically assaulted or murdered. The natives provide a permissive atmosphere for the aggressors -- who are, invariably, poor oppressed Muslim immigrants who just came for a better life.

The latest outrage: Jewish medical student attacked by Muslim women in Berlin.

The incident happened last week after the 26 year-old student attended a party at the house of friends in the Steglitz neighborhood in south-west Berlin, where a large Muslim community resides. At about 2 a.m., the woman, who holds a dual Israeli-German citizenship, decided to walk back to her apartment after she missed the last bus home, Israel's leading daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

While she was walking home and holding a conversation in Hebrew with a friend from Israel on her cellular phone, the student passed by a group of young women.

When they recognized the language the student was speaking as Hebrew, one of the girls suddenly walked up to the Israeli woman and slapped her in the face. The other women then joined in, pulled her hair, beat her up and kicked her. The abuse eventually stopped when the attackers thought they heard a police car approaching, and they fled the scene.

Small Holocaust memorials can be found in many German towns, usually consisting of a stone monument, a small garden, and a plaque engraved with victims' names. One begins to notice, however, that these monuments are placed in oddly inconspicuous locations, usually in residential areas where one happens to stumble across them only on foot or bicycle.

Of course, there are many large, well-publicized memorials, such as those at Dachau, Auschwitz, and Berlin, which receive many visitors. Dachau, for example, overwhelms one with the planning and effort that had to be invested in its construction. One wonders why the expense and infrastructure of barracks, crematoriums, guard towers, fences, and trains were necessary. The mind screams, why?!?!

If people had to die, going door-to-door executing them would have been far more efficient. It would have freed up tons of raw materials and hundreds of workers for industry. So, why death factories, and not face-to-face executions? Maybe they were afraid it would have given victims a fleeting chance to defend themselves.

Or, maybe they were afraid that it would have required one human being to look another in the eye and pull the trigger.

The vast resources invested to indulge the apparent need for detachment and denial is precisely what makes these smaller "neighborhood" memorials so disconcerting. They seem almost deliberately tucked away, as though their purpose is to acknowledge and forget all at the same time.

A few years ago, I was at a restaurant in a large German city with some local friends. It was a hip, trendy place, and we all noticed one particular item on the menu: bagels! We all missed American coffee shops and wanted one. Offhand, I remarked, "man, yeah, why is it that you can't get bagels over here?" My German friends slowly turned to look at me, without saying a word. Not nasty, just waiting for my brain to engage. I just about fainted, and mumbled an apology.

That individual Germans walk around daily with this unfathomable burden on their conscience is difficult for outsiders to truly grasp. A dark cloud of guilt hangs over the entire country, to which many would say, "good. It should." But as is becoming more and more apparent, excessive German self-flagellation has been counterproductive.

Because now many Germans are angry that they feel compelled to feel guilty all the time. These sorts are often attracted to extremist political parties -- in the same way Germans weary of reparations after WWI were attracted to Hitler, who promised to throw off the chains and make Germany great again. For others, the guilt translates into an obligation to bow and scrape for anyone who claims to be oppressed. These are the ones behind Germany's policy of granting automatic asylum to Palestinians -- automatic, no checks -- as well as siding with the PLO, Arafat, and Hamas in any controversy with Israel.

Both of these trends are leading Germany -- indeed, all Europe -- straight to back to the 1930s, by rehabilitating and re-legitimizing anti-Semitism. A growing sentiment can be detected that seems to say: "if it wasn't for those damn Jews, we wouldn't feel so guilty."

Assuming Europe's remaining Jews get out in a hurry, it almost makes you glad that Europe's Muslim colonists will soon be their masters.