MY SAY: REMEMBERING IS NOT ENOUGH
In my home I have a photograph of my late father Mordechai Isaac Salomon with Zionism’s greatest prophet Zeev Jabotinsky. At the gathering in Geneva in 1932 my father told Jabotinsky that he had a chance to leave Europe and go to Bolivia to join the army in the Chaco War (1932-1935) against Paraguay. My father had just graduated from medical school and was reluctant to return to his native Poland. Jabotinsky’s words as remembered and endlessly repeated by my father throughout his life were : “Go!.Go! Go! Europe will become a hell for Jews!” These words were endlessly repeated by Jabotinsky when he spoke to Jewish audiences in Europe who responded with apathy, disinterest and often, overt hostility.
My father persuaded my reluctant mother to leave and she joined him at army camp in the jungles of the Chaco River where he became Surgeon General Doctor “Mardoqueo” Salomon” and given Bolivian citizenship. My brother Hilel and were born there and our small family enjoyed a good life in horrific contrast to the parents, uncles, aunts, sisters, brother and friends who were killed in Europe’s hell. Zeev Jabotinsky was our personal hero as well as a giant among men and a prophet.
To stand in memorial to the millions who perished with the words “Hear oh Israel” is simply not enough without heeding the threats of our enemies and channeling the wisdom of Jabotinsky before the rising tide of international antisemitism engulfs us all.
May the souls of millions rest in eternal peace.
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