One of history's great ironies

July 14, 2025

Geraldine Schwarz wrote in Les Amnésiques that her grandparents, along with so many Germans, were “Mitläufer”, those who turned a blind eye to Hitler’s policies, when convenient, particularly when it involved some material advantage, such as taking over a business that Jews were forced to sell on the cheap to “Aryans”.

This is what her grandparents did. Her father, however, rejected what his parents had done. He recognised that if people in a culture that produced Bach, Beethoven and Goethe could do such things, or turn a blind eye to it, then anyone can.

Schwarz can now add to her list of those capable, those who had suffered so much. There will be material advantages for Israelis in ridding Gaza of Palestinians, and isn’t that what the settlements are all about? We are witnessing one of history’s great ironies in Gaza. It is encouraging to see that so many Jews are aware of the irony and are not the Hebrew equivalent of the Mitläufer.