Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC)
Interfaith Engagement: MARCC Delegates Visit the Holocaust & Humanity Center
Delegates of the Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati (MARCC) visited the Holocaust & Humanity Center in September, where they heard from Dr. Al Miller, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor who shares his story with thousands of people each year. MARCC Executive Director Margaret Fox shares her reflections on Dr. Miller’s talk and its relevance to the fight against injustice today.
We fell silent as we listened to Dr. Al Miller tell his story of growing up in Berlin during the 1930s. “A monumental absurdity,” he began by quoting Voltaire. “Those that can make you believe absurdities, can also make you commit atrocities.”
The absurdity at the time, he remarked, consisted of five words from a German Nationalist song: the Jews are our misfortune.
Dr. Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda for the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler, once said, “The bigger the lie, the more easily it is believed, as long as no one contradicts it.”
We listened to absurd lies that evolved into facts—that no German would contradict at that time with the truth. Nor would most of the world then. This Nazi plot, based on absurdity, set out and was successful in exterminating six million Jews in Germany and most of Europe.
Al and his brother escaped because their mother and father intentionally sent them to schools in Switzerland and England, respectively. The Nazis absconded their parents’ identity documents. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were helped along the way by a Catholic hospital and a non-Jewish friend who hid them in her apartment for a time. Eventually, the Millers retrieved documents in Germany from a woman in the Belgium Consulate, obtained 72-hour visas to Belgium, where they soon joined Al. Then, they headed to England to be reunited with Al’s brother.
At that time, if the Miller family did not leave England within 30 days, by law they would be expelled back to Germany. In England, they were categorized as “enemy aliens.” Their permission documents to go to the United States came through just in time.
Upon arrival in New York City, an immigration officer welcomed them, using civilized, basic phrases of respect—please, thank you. Al had left his documents in the ship cabin. The immigration officer said, “Sonny relax, go to your cabin. You’ll find your papers.” He did. Then he received the officer’s parting words of guidance. “Obey our laws, get an education, and make something of yourself.” Al said the immigration officer had provided him with self-confidence in less than one minute.
Al connected the past to the present. Then Sarah Weiss, Executive Director of the Holocaust & Humanity Center pointed out what we need to be concerned about today so as not to let absurdities turn into atrocities again. Make sure absurd lies that you hear don’t turn into facts, she urged, and be cautiously optimistic. She reminded us that everything the Nazis did was carried out legally because they had changed the laws. She told us how important it is to pay attention to the number of bias incidents, like the racist and antisemitic graffiti at Withrow High School, the appearance of a swastika at Hebrew Union College, the graffiti along the Loveland Bike Trail, and hate slurs towards a Muslim woman downtown. Stand up and contradict injustice and untruths.
Different generations and races of people with diverse religious beliefs—we all left better informed, grateful, and inspired by Dr. Al Miller to remember and live the words, “… with liberty and justice for all.”
The Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati (MARCC), of which the Jewish Community Relations Council is a founding member, is just one of over fifty programs and agencies funded in part by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
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