To the Editor:
In the September 11th edition of the Gasconade County Republican, there was a section that noted the significance of 9-11 and a salute to those first responders in the communities of Owensville, Hermann, Gerald, and Rosebud.
In that section was also a two-sided white printed sheet with the heading “September 11, 2001.”
At first glance, this might have appeared as a further recognition of the loss of lives on that tragic day in our nation’s history. Instead it was an antisemitic diatribe of conspiracy theories, claiming that Jewish financiers, businesses and the State of Israel were responsible for the attacks on 9-11. The debunking of such myths is hardly worth the paper these falsehoods were printed on, but if only to make sure this type of hatred is not without a response, I am stating it here in print.
The history of antisemitism did not start with Hitler, nor did it end with the victory of the Allied troops in WWII — it was a 2,000 year old hatred, sometimes referred to as “The Longest Hatred” that blamed Jews, however they were perceived, as being responsible for every disaster, disease, or conflict the world has known since the crucifixion of Christ, himself a Jew.
We Christians somehow have forgotten that fact. He was not a Christian.
The largest number of innocent lives murdered in 9-11 were Jews.
New York, outside of Israel, had the largest concentration of Jews in the world. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, our one ally that has supported the United States in that region, but they have learned a bitter lesson in the Shoah (Holocaust) — never count on another country to keep you safe.
Israel does not take its orders from the USA or any other country. It is its own guardian — well-trained and efficient in its focus, strength, and methods.
Ironically, after 9-11, it was the first country our nation contacted to learn how best to secure our borders and institutions. Now, to add one more blame game on the Jewish people is one more dark blemish on our nation.
Yes, we allow the freedom of speech, but this paper insert was hate speech and as a longtime resident of Gasconade County and the proud wife of a family whose roots go back to 1850, I was ashamed to see this in our local paper. And it was a Jewish friend with acquaintances in Belle that alerted me to the insert.
My final thoughts?
I think in the future the Gasconade County Republican and its owners should practice more discretion in what the paper accepts for inserts, whether paid for or not.
The famous Anglo-Irish statesman and philospher Edmund Burke (1729-1797)is credited to have said something that rings true today: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Eli Weisel, the famous Holocaust survivor and author of the memoir “Night” was quoted as saying, “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
And — “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”
As a proud member of the Gasconade County community, a community I have grown to love, I will not let hateful rhetoric and falsehoods go without an outcry from me — if only me.
If anyone wants to learn more about antisemitism and how to respond to events or printed materials such as those falsehoods in the insert, please visit our new St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum (STLHolocaustMuseum.org) in St. Louis, now a free-standing institution.
There you will learn the truth.
Respectfully,
Lolle Wickwire Boettcher
Teacher Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and member of the Missouri Holocaust Education and Awareness Commission
