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Today is Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) and I'm honoured to share my #FiveThings with @LifeDeathWhat today. Often I am asked, "Why didn't Jews just leave Nazi-occupied areas?" and the answer is, "Many tried but they were denied asylum" 1/5 tinyurl.com/y3ksuhuh
In 1938 the US denied over 100,000 visas of German Jews trying to flee. The US government feared that these desperate families might be spies, saboteurs, or disease ridden. They would beg on the street, be a drain on the economy or commit acts of terror (sound familiar?) 2/5
The MS St. Louis carried 900 Jewish refugees but could not find a safe harbour and returned to Europe with 600 of them, all eventually went to concentration camps, most died in the war. Cuba, Canada, the US, and the UK only allowed entry to refugees with preexisting visas. 3/5
People sent their children to strangers in the UK on the Kinder Transports to get them to safety, not knowing if they would ever be reunited. Most were not. These are just a handful of examples of the ways that apathy towards refugees contributed to genocide. 4/5
Never Again means Never Again, anyone, anywhere [full stop.] but we have a slow-moving catastrophe of refugees fleeing war and genocide today. 85% of which are housed in developing countries. Meanwhile, the wealthiest nations lock their doors. What do you think will happen? 5/5
