Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil...?

"Seig Heil" was actually the expression used during WWII and Nazi era by Germans to call together mass meetings. Will our 21st century teenagers soon be shouting this infamous German phrase?

After WWI, anti-Semitism rose as a critical social and racial issue in the early 20th century; thus the Zionist movement began, leading to the establishment of present-day Israel. Pushing for a nation-state of their own, hundreds and thousands of Jews were discriminated and harshly mistreated (i.e. the Holocaust). Are these anti-Semitic feelings stirring up again?

According to a German study by its government, there has been a rise in anti-Semitic crimes in the last year in Germany. Reuters India says that, "Roughly one in twenty 15-year-old German males is a member of a neo-Nazi group." From 2007 to 2008, several neo-Nazi signs (e.g. stickers, music) have been appearing among German teens.

Though it seems absurd, this issue has even caught the attention of German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. "He [Schaeuble] would push for the creation of more sports clubs in regions with social problems," reports Reuters, in response to the reports.

So, my question to you is: Is this just a superifical rumor due to paranoia, or will the old resentments and hatred fuel another Holocaust?

You decide.

0 comments: