Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"[...] the need to remember and retain the lessons of what became the Holocaust - from its insidious and incremental beginnings in 1930s Germany to the mass factories of death that began their infernal activities in 1941 - grows rather than diminishes. As the experience of the death camps begins to fade from living memory, there are signs that, in a period of resurgent nationalism and xenophobia, postwar taboos are losing some of their force and historical revisionism is being deployed to buttress senses of national self-esteem.'

[...]

"A defensive, ethnocentric nationalism which views minorities with suspicion is one of the signs of post-crash times in Europe. Reports of antisemitic incidents are on the rise and political language distinguishing between those who 'belong' to the nation and those who do not has become more commonplace. The simultaneous rise of social media has also chipped steadily away at taboos which once set the parameters of acceptable public discourse. There is a pressing need for renewed vigilance, with respect not only to antisemitism but also Islamophobia."

-- from "The Guardian view on Holocaust Memorial Day: as necessary as ever", 2020-01-26

"It would be a dangerous error to think of the Holocaust as simply the result of the insanity of a group of criminal Nazis. On the contrary, the Holocaust was the culmination of millennia of hatred, scapegoating and discrimination targeting the Jews, what we now call antisemitism." -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, quoted in "Why Holocaust Remembrance Day matters more than ever" by David Zwartz, 2020-01-24

"When expressions of contempt for one group become normative, it is virtually inevitable that similar hatred will be directed at other groups. Like a fire set by an arsonist, passionate hatred and conspiratorial worldviews reach well beyond their intended target." -- Deborah Lipstadt, also quoted in Zwartz's "Why Holocaust Remembrance Day matters more than ever"

[The disturbing signs are not limited to Europe. Of course.]