When Rabbi Shlomi Tabib of the Chabad Taipei Jewish Center heard of the Nazi-themed parade staged by students of Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School in Hsinchu City last month, the first thought that crossed his mind was his 94-year old grandmother, a Holocaust survivor living in Israel.
“I can’t even imagine the kind of horror that this imagery would trigger in her,” Rabbi Shlomi tells the Taipei Times.
Though she never talks much about this part of her life, the rabbi says the details he knows are horrific enough. When she was a teenager, his grandmother and her family were taken from their home in the former Czechoslovakia and sent to work in a factory producing ammunition for Germany. She and her sister were later transferred to Auschwitz, where they spent the remainder of the war. One by one, her parents and siblings were murdered, the sister that was with her in Auschwitz shot dead by the Nazis in 1945 as the Allies closed in.
Photo courtesy of Rabbi Shlomi Tabib
Though he talks to his grandmother on the phone every few days, Rabbi Shlomi says the decision to not tell her about the Nazi-themed parade was simple: “I didn’t want her to think that I live in a place that condones something like this.”
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NAZI IMAGERY USED BY TAIWANESE
This is not the first time that the use of Nazi imagery in Taiwan has stirred controversy. A home heater advertisement from 1999 featured an image of Hitler raising his right arm in salute. “Declare war on the cold front!” was the slogan. In 2000, a Nazi-themed restaurant in Taipei with photographs of concentration camps hanging on the walls and restrooms with signage that read “gas chambers,” was forced to shut down. In 2014, an Italian restaurant in New Taipei City drew criticism for offering a dish on the menu named “Long Live Nazi spaghetti.”
Illustration: Kevin Sheu
Speaking on behalf of Taipei’s Jewish community, the rabbi says that he’s had mostly positive interactions with Taiwanese during his five years living here and that he is mystified as to why such incidents have repeatedly occurred.
“Taiwanese have such a kind, accepting nature,” he says. “That’s why it’s shocking.”
Ross Feingold, founding chairman of the Chabad Taipei Jewish Center and longtime Taipei resident, says it’s a combination of ignorance and a failure in the education system to teach students about the gravity of the Holocaust.
“Students are unaware and educators are not teaching them that [Nazi] imagery is associated with the genocide of the Holocaust,” Feingold tells the Taipei Times.
Whereas young people these days might have greater exposure to Nazi imagery via the Internet, movies and video games, the primary perception is that the Nazis were part of an army that fought air, land and sea battles against the Allies in World War II.
“Unfortunately, the knowledge level often stops there, as such events were not close to home here in Taiwan,” Feingold says.
There’s less awareness of the human suffering, he adds, notably the extermination policies and concentration camps.
CONTEMPORARY PARALLEL
Rabbi Shlomi isn’t fully convinced. Instead, he frames the discussion around whether it is a “correct excuse.” Like Feingold, he believes that the parade wasn’t an act of anti-Semitism, nor was it meant as a snide to Taiwan’s Jewish community.
“But obviously, the flaw in the education system is much bigger than perceived,” Rabbi Shlomi says. “Teenagers were parading in Nazi uniforms thinking it was funny.”
Feingold adds that this is even more disturbing as the Nazis expected their rule to last a thousand years and a crucial element of their propaganda program involved brainwashing Germany’s youth into believing their ideals and to produce successive generations to continue their reign of terror.
“It is sad to see teenage students in Taiwan, in the 21st century, susceptible to believing it is appropriate to use Nazi imagery,” Feingold says.
One way to put their actions into perspective, the rabbi argues, would be to ask the students how they would feel if American or German students were to invoke imagery from the 228 Incident — the anti-government uprising on February 28, 1947 which saw thousands of Taiwanese civilians massacred.
However, simply reading about the Holocaust — or other historical events for that matter — might not offer the best long-term solution either.
“If we just tell them to open a textbook and read about how, 70 years ago, there were some bad guys who killed six million Jews, then it just sounds like a fairytale,” the rabbi says.
A more effective method, he thinks, would be to draw contemporary parallels, for instance, getting the students to see how their actions would be similar to dressing up as ISIS soldiers or terrorists.
They have to understand, the rabbi adds, that “there’s no one here in Taiwan that endorses their side, just as there’s no one here who endorses acts of terror.”
‘STRONG BASE FOR TOLERANCE’
While both the German and Israeli trade offices have issued statements condemning the parade, Feingold says that now it’s time for Taiwan’s Jewish community to step up and be more vocal on the issue of invoking Nazi imagery.
“Taiwan’s Jewish community, many of whom have lived here for decades, are able to explain these issues to audiences in Taiwan,” he says.
Hearing about their experiences living in Taiwan, combined with what their Jewish heritage means to them, would resonate more with people rather than implementing what Feingold calls “cosmetic remedial actions” such as showing foreign-made films about the Holocaust or inviting foreign experts to Taiwan to speak at seminars.
Rabbi Shlomi agrees. “The point of sharing our stories,” he says, “is not to say, ‘stop doing this because you’re hurting our feelings,’ but you’re also making a fool out of yourselves.”
Despite this, the rabbi harbors no adverse feelings toward Taiwan and reiterates that he doesn’t want the international community to see Taiwan in a negative light.
“There’s a strong base for tolerance here,” he says. “With some recalculating, good results will come out.”
Feingold adds that he also shares “the sadness of Taiwanese at the negative international media coverage this event attracted.”
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