It began in the Genocide Memorial Park outside the city of Alytus, where the majesty of the monuments, especially the Broken Star of David, set in the somber beauty of the forest moved me to tears. Hannah Arendt writes convincingly about the phenomenon which she designates “the banality of evil”. The every day acceptance of the monstrous acts that characterize so much of human history does seem like an inescapable truth. Great masses of innocent humanity have been eliminated throughout recorded history for no fault of their own save being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And there is so much of this unwarranted destruction of the innocent, it lends itself easily to being considered “banal”. Especially when regarded from the perspective of history which happened long ago or geography which removes it a great distance from where you happen to be. I ,however, was standing right on top of the graves of at least 10,000 innocent souls slaughtered only because they were born as Jews. The evil was no longer banal but quite palpable as the enormity of this criminal act sunk deeper within me.

I now began to consider what happened here in Lithuania in earnest in a way I never could in America. I remembered instances of anti –semitism from my youth but it was a half century ago. Although it is clear that some deranged groups still espouse hard core anti-semitism, it is ancient history for modern America. Besides quotas in schools and lack of admission to the local country club comes nowhere near the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

And it was definitely murder in my mind. I no longer have any use for the term “anti-semitism” because it seems to raise what was essentially acts of murder and theft to something more ideological. A doctrine perhaps, albeit misguided, but something large groups of people can entertain as believable. There is both comfort and lack of responsibility in large numbers. If a single individual commits murder and steals and is apprehended, chances are they will be punished (more so if they are poor and from the lower classes). But let masses of people behind a state policy commit murder; let them steal what is not rightfully theirs, and it is more likely they will escape punishment. Anti-semitism will not excuse their action entirely, but it will somehow raise their action above the gross acts of murder and theft that in truth they were.

The facts are that the Jews owned a great deal of prewar Lithuania despite a history of anti-Semitism that goes as far back as Lithuanian history itself. They constituted the majority of the population in all of the major cities, ran most of the businesses and operated most of the factories. Ethnic Lithuanians lived by contrast mainly in rural villages and were engaged by and large in agriculture. The Jews did not steal their way into prominence, they earned their position of wealth. And it would be a gross misunderstanding to believe that all Jews were equally successful.

So there you have it. If there was anymore to this piece, I can't find it. "never again" turns out to be "here we go again" as genocide continues to wax mightily in all parts of the world and under different names.

Tried to access the video you did on Malawi but couldn't quite manage the process.

Best

Gerald Pearlman