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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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