MAY 19 • 2022 | 9

strong ties to Nazi-controlled
German universities; in
particular, the University
of Heidelberg. Even though
Heidelberg fired all its Jewish
faculty members, instituted
a Nazified curriculum and
hosted a mass book-burning,
Harvard President James
Conant accepted an invita-
tion to take part in celebra-
tions of Heidelberg’s 550th
anniversary in 1936. He said
“political conditions”— such
as the mass persecution of
Germany’s Jews — should not
prevent Harvard from partic-
ipating. A Crimson editorial
agreed and hailed Conant’s
decision as “splendid.”
The Harvard administra-
tion took additional steps in
the 1930s to foster friendly
relations with Nazi Germany.
Harvard rolled out the red
carpet for the crew of a Nazi
warship, the Karlsruhe, when
it docked in Boston harbor in
1934, the swastika flag flying
from its mast. “Officers and

crewmen from the warship
were entertained at Harvard,
and professors attended a gala
reception in Boston where the
warship’s captain enthusiasti-
cally praised Hitler,” Norwood
notes. The following year,
the German consul-general
in Boston was permitted to
place a swastika wreath in the
university’s chapel in honor
of German war veterans who
were Harvard alumni.
Of course, there are import-
ant differences between the
Crimson of 1934 and the
Crimson of today. For one
thing, the quality of the edi-
torial writing has deteriorated
noticeably over the years.
The journalism students who
edit the oldest college news-
paper in the United States
really should know that the
past tense of “strive” is not
“strived,” “nuance” is not a
verb, and “difficults” and
“straw-manning” are not real
words. Grammatical errors are
the least of the current editors’

problems, however.
The more important issue
is whether it can be argued
that there is some connection
between the past and pres-
ent Crimson editors’ attitudes
toward persecutors of Jews.
Obviously, criticism of Israeli
policies is not Nazism and the
BDS campaign is not the same
as the Holocaust. But there is
something important about
the Crimson editors’ explana-
tion that they were moved to
embrace BDS by “the weight
of this moment.”
Our universities are sup-
posed to train students to
engage in free inquiry and
independent thinking. The
“weight of this moment,” espe-
cially on college campuses, is
tilted heavily against Israel.
Nothing is trendier than
accusing the Jewish state of
behaving like apartheid-era
South Africa or even Nazi
Germany. But the editors
of the Crimson should have
resisted the temptation to

go along with the crowd, to
succumb to the “weight of
the moment.” They should
have opted to side with facts
and reason instead of simply
aping what all the cool kids
are doing.
Here is where the compar-
ison to the 1930s is relevant.
Then too, the editors of the
Crimson chose to follow the
crowd. From the White House
down to the Harvard admin-
istration, the maintenance of
friendly relations with Nazi
Germany — and ignoring
the plight of the Jews — was
regarded as the preferred
approach. The editors of the
Crimson made the wrong
moral choice in the 1930s.
Their successors have done
likewise.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of the

David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust

Studies and author of more than 20

books about the Holocaust and Jewish

history. This article was originally pub-

lished by the Jewish Journal.

the seder table and retold the
story of the challenges Jews
faced, standing up to those
who sought to enslave us.
Clearly, our journey is not
yet complete. For centuries
the Jewish people have been
targets and scapegoats, but
we as a people have survived.
We have survived because we
share our story every week,
and we keep on telling our
story so that we never forget
what happened to the genera-
tions before us.
We just commemorated
Holocaust Remembrance Day.
As this generation of survi-
vors is quickly diminishing,
my generation and those that
come after me will never for-
get the atrocities that occurred
decades ago. Even with the
number of antisemitic inci-
dents rising, it is a powerful

reminder of how much work
we have ahead of us to speak
up and call people out, just as
Edelman has.
A few months after Meyers
sent that destructive post, he
set out on his journey to learn
about the Jewish community.
He shared what he learned
over social media, becoming
an ally.
As generations become
further detached from the
survivors of the Holocaust
it is crucial that we continue
to share stories and that we
feel empowered or become
equipped with the tools to
stand up and speak out, so we
never have to become victims
of antisemitism again.

Spencer Cherrin is a freshman at

Frankel Jewish Academy and a gradu-

ate of Hillel Day School.

By reaching out,
Jewish ex-NFL star
Julian Endelman
made an ally out of a
potential antisemite.

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