Second Holocaust

From HandWiki
Short description: none

The notion of a second Holocaust[lower-alpha 1] refers to the belief or claim that the Holocaust – or an event comparable in scale, intent, or destructive potential – is recurring or is likely to occur again in the future.[1] This concept is invoked in a wide range of political, cultural, and scholarly discussions, particularly those concerning the security and continuity of the State of Israel, the safety of Jewish communities worldwide, and the preservation of Jewish cultural and religious life.[2][3][4]

Advocates of this view often point to rising antisemitism, geopolitical conflicts, demographic concerns, or hostile rhetoric from state and non-state actors as indicators of renewed existential danger.[5][6][7][8] Critics, however, argue that applying Holocaust analogies too broadly can distort historical understanding, escalate political tensions, or hinder constructive debate.[9][10] As a result, the phrase is both deeply emotive and highly contested, reflecting broader debates about memory, identity, and the interpretation of past atrocities in contemporary contexts.[11][12]

Origin

The Holocaust was the genocide of Jews perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II.[13][14] It was a state-sponsored, systematic campaign of persecution and murder carried out between 1941 and 1945 under the totalitarian dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.[15] Rooted in antisemitic ideology, Nazi racial policy labeled Jews as an existential threat to the German nation.[16][17] Following years of escalating discrimination, including the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 and the Kristallnacht in 1938, the regime transitioned from exclusion to extermination with the so-called Final Solution.[18][19]

The genocide was implemented through a network of ghettos, forced-labor camps, and extermination camps across German-occupied Europe. Millions of Jews were deported in mass transports to killing centers such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibór, and Belzec, where they were murdered primarily in gas chambers.[20][21] Mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) also carried out mass shootings, particularly in Eastern Europe.[22] By the end of the war, approximately six million Jewish men, women, and children had been killed—around two-thirds of Europe’s prewar Jewish population.[23][24] The Holocaust also targeted other groups deemed “undesirable,” including Roma, disabled individuals, Poles, Soviet POWs, and political opponents, though Jews remained the central target of total annihilation.[25][26]

The Holocaust stands as one of the most extensively documented genocides in history, and its legacy continues to shape global discussions on human rights and the responsibilities of states and societies in preventing mass atrocities.[27]

Examples

Existential threats to the State of Israel

Threats to Israel's security have often been described as a potential "second Holocaust".[28][29] During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, it was feared that defeat in the war would mean a second genocide of Jews, this time at the hands of Arab armies. These fears were based on antisemitism in the Arab world, the fact that Arab leaders such as Amin al-Husseini were providing shelter to Nazi war criminals and had publicly supported the Holocaust during World War 2, many Israelis having lost relatives in the Holocaust, and the temporal proximity of the last genocide. The Arabs did not face a comparable existential threat, and the lack of motivation of Arab armies contributed to defeat in the war.[30][31][32] The Six-Day War also led Israelis to fear another Holocaust.[33][28]

Belief that Jews are threatened by another existential event, like the Holocaust, is an important element in support for the Israeli state and its military.[28][34] For example, in 1987, Yitzhak Rabin opined that "In every generation, they try to destroy us" (quoting from the Passover Haggadah) and therefore the Holocaust could happen again.[34] Before he came to power, Menachem Begin compared accepting reparations from Germany to allowing "another Holocaust".[35] Before the 1982 Lebanon war, Begin told his cabinet: "Believe me, the alternative to this is Treblinka, and we have decided that there will not be another Treblinka". He also justified Operation Opera, the 1981 bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, by stating that by ordering the strike he had prevented another Holocaust.[28][36]

Mike Pence, former Vice President of the United States, said in 2019 that "The Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust and seeks the means to achieve it", referring to the Iranian nuclear program.[37]

This tendency has been criticized by some Israelis.[34] For example, in 2017 President Reuven Rivlin said that he disagreed with Begin's invocation of "another Treblinka": "According to this approach, the justification for the existence of the State of Israel is the prevention of the next Holocaust. Every threat is a threat to survival, every Israel-hating leader is Hitler ... any criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitism." He said that the approach was "fundamentally wrong" and "dangerous".[38]

The October 7 attacks in 2023 have been likened to events of the Holocaust by many Israeli Jews, including Holocaust survivors, as well as world leaders such as the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US president Joe Biden.[39][40][41] The phenomenon of Israel's Holocaust survivors mourning much-younger soldiers lost on October 7 was described as a reversal of roles.[41]

Following Israel's strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure in June 2025, Netanyahu said on American television, "We will not have a second holocaust, a nuclear holocaust”.[42]

One-state solution

Writing on Arutz Sheva, Steven Plaut referred to a one-state solution as the "Rwanda Solution", and wrote that the implementation of a one-state solution in which a Palestinian majority would rule over a Jewish minority would eventually lead to a "new Holocaust".[43]

Antisemitism

Some Holocaust survivors have expressed fear that rising antisemitism in the 21st century could lead to another Holocaust.[44] Israel Meir Lau, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and a Holocaust survivor, said that while another Holocaust was possible, "this time, the fact that we have a Jewish state that deters Israel's haters, the fact that we have the Israel Defense Forces, and the fact that we have won wars decisively, makes things starkly different".[45]

According to a 2020 survey, 58% of Americans believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.[44]

Claims that Palestinians are committing genocide

A 2009 law journal article by Israeli-American human rights lawyer Justus Weiner and Israeli-American law professor Avi Bell argued that Hamas attacks against Israelis met the definition of the crime of genocide in the Genocide Convention.[46] In 2023, a letter signed by over 100 international law experts argued that the October 7 attacks "most probably constitute[s] an international crime of genocide, proscribed by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court".[47][48] Its signatories included Irwin Cotler, former Attorney-General of Canada; the organiser of the letter was Dan Eldad, former acting State Attorney of Israel.[47] The same argument was made by Jens David Ohlin, dean of Cornell Law School, in a post on the Opinio Juris group blog.[49]

In his 2009 book on genocide, Worse than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity, Harvard professor Daniel Goldhagen argues that Palestinian suicide attacks should be called "genocide bombings", and their perpetrators "genocide bombers".[50][51] The coining of the label "genocide bombing" is sometimes attributed to Irwin Cotler, in remarks he made in the Canadian Parliament in 2002;[52][53] however, the phrase was used by the UK's ambassador, Stephen Gommersall, during an April 1996 meeting of the UN Security Council.[54] Other supporters of the use of the "genocide bombing" phrase have included the American political scientist R. J. Rummel,[55] and Arnold Beichman.[56]

Jewish intermarriage

Main article: Social:Jewish assimilation
See also: Silent Holocaust (Judaism)

In 2019, Israeli education minister Rafi Peretz compared Jewish intermarriage in the United States to a "second Holocaust".[57] At the time, fifty-eight percent of married American Jews had non-Jewish spouses. Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that Peretz' remark "trivializes the Shoah".[58]

See also

  • Calls for the destruction of Israel
  • Allegations of genocide in the October 7 attacks
  • Palestinian genocide accusation
  • Gaza genocide
  • Genocide prevention
  • Never again
  • Ongoing Nakba
  • Instrumentalization of the Holocaust
  • New Hitler

Notes

  1. ↑ (Hebrew: השואה השנײה, romanized: HaShoah HaShniyah) or "Another Holocaust" (Hebrew: שואה נוספת, romanized: Shoah Nosephet)

References

  1. ↑ "FAQs. The Holocaust Resource Center" (in en). https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/faqs.html. 
  2. ↑ "The Jewish people will not allow a second Holocaust. The Jewish state will do everything necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Period.". https://www.gov.il/en/pages/epcscholz. 
  3. ↑ Nir, Bina (2018-11-19). "Transgenerational Transmission of Holocaust Trauma and Its Expressions in Literature" (in en). Genealogy 2 (4): 49. doi:10.3390/genealogy2040049. ISSN 2313-5778. 
  4. ↑ Keynan, Irit; Wolff, Noga (2022-02-18). "The Representation of the Holocaust in Israeli Society and Its Implications on Conceptions of Democracy and Human Rights of "Others"" (in en). Genealogy 6 (1): 18. doi:10.3390/genealogy6010018. ISSN 2313-5778. 
  5. ↑ Stub, Zev (2025-05-07). "80 years after Nazi Germany's surrender, antisemitism is rising worldwide, report finds" (in en-US). The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. https://www.timesofisrael.com/80-years-after-nazi-germanys-surrender-antisemitism-is-rising-worldwide-report-finds/. 
  6. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". https://www.euronews.com/2025/05/08/antisemitic-incidents-surge-across-europe-and-the-world-adl-report-shows. 
  7. ↑ Stub, Zev (2025-01-22). "Global antisemitism surged 340% in two years, report finds" (in en-US). The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. https://www.timesofisrael.com/global-antisemitism-surged-340-in-two-years-report-finds/. 
  8. ↑ "Antisemitic incidents in Germany almost double in 2024, report says". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/antisemitic-incidents-germany-almost-double-2024-report-says-2025-06-04/. 
  9. ↑ "Why Holocaust Analogies Are Dangerous - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum" (in en). 2018-12-12. https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/why-holocaust-analogies-are-dangerous. 
  10. ↑ Kim, Claire Jean (2011-09-01). "Moral Extensionism or Racist Exploitation? The Use of Holocaust and Slavery Analogies in the Animal Liberation Movement". New Political Science 33 (3): 311–333. doi:10.1080/07393148.2011.592021. ISSN 0739-3148. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393148.2011.592021. 
  11. ↑ Adams, Tracy (2025-06-01). "Holocaust Memory as Cultural Code: The UK National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre as Case Study" (in EN). Cultural Sociology 19 (2): 181–206. doi:10.1177/17499755231182764. ISSN 1749-9755. https://doi.org/10.1177/17499755231182764. 
  12. ↑ "Teaching the Holocaust in High School - Montreal Holocaust Museum" (in en-US). Musée de l'Holocauste Montréal. https://museeholocauste.ca/en/resources-training/teaching-holocaust-middle-high-school/. 
  13. ↑ "Introduction to the Holocaust: What was the Holocaust?" (in en). https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust. 
  14. ↑ "What is the holocaust?" (in en). Anne Frank Website. https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/what-is-the-holocaust/. 
  15. ↑ Editors, HISTORY com (2009-10-14). "Holocaust: Definition, Remembrance & Meaning" (in en). https://www.history.com/articles/the-holocaust. 
  16. ↑ Staff, FIRM (2025-04-08). "Why Did Hitler Hate the Jews? Learn What Fueled Nazi Ideology" (in en-US). https://firmisrael.org/learn/why-did-hitler-hate-the-jews-learn-what-fueled-nazi-ideology/. 
  17. ↑ "Racism: An Overview | Holocaust Encyclopedia" (in en). Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-racism-an-overview. 
  18. ↑ "The "Final Solution" | Holocaust Encyclopedia" (in en). Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-final-solution. 
  19. ↑ "Final solution | Definition, Holocaust, & Third Reich | Britannica" (in en). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Final-Solution. 
  20. ↑ "Killing Centers: An Overview | Holocaust Encyclopedia" (in en). Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/killing-centers-an-overview. 
  21. ↑ "The Liberation of the Death and Concentration Camps, Europe, June 1944 – May 1945". https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79d3a0ed915d042206b510/ww2_deathcamps.pdf. 
  22. ↑ "Einsatzgruppen: An Overview | Holocaust Encyclopedia" (in en). Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/einsatzgruppen. 
  23. ↑ Nations, United. "Holocaust Remembrance: A Commitment to Truth and Lest We Forget" (in en). https://www.un.org/en/exhibits/exhibit/holocaust-remembrance. 
  24. ↑ "How Many People did the Nazis Murder?" (in en). https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution. 
  25. ↑ ""Enemies of the State" | Holocaust Encyclopedia" (in en). Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/enemies-of-the-state. 
  26. ↑ "Nazis and Slavs: From Racial Theory to Racist Practice" (in en). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41037294. 
  27. ↑ "Holocaust, Shoah, Hurban: Naming and commemorating the unspeakable". https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2024/762297/EPRS_BRI(2024)762297_EN.pdf. 
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Lustick, Ian S. (2019) (in en). Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-8122-9681-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=IT--DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43. 
  29. ↑ Peleg, Ilan (2019) (in en). Victimhood Discourse in Contemporary Israel. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 63, 95–96. ISBN 978-1-4985-5351-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=jXSQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA115. 
  30. ↑ "Professor pens book on WWII veterans' efforts to prevent a second Holocaust | Penn State University" (in en). news.psu.edu. https://news.psu.edu/story/606349/2020/01/31/research/professor-pens-book-wwii-veterans-efforts-prevent-second-holocaust. Retrieved 7 May 2020. 
  31. ↑ Morris, Benny (2008) (in en). 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. Yale University Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-300-14524-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=CC7381HrLqcC&q=threat. 
  32. ↑ Yablonka, Hanna (2016) (in en). Survivors of the Holocaust: Israel after the War. Springer. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-349-14152-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=NNy-DAAAQBAJ&q=threat. 
  33. ↑ Brenner, Reeve Robert (2014) (in en). The Faith and Doubt of Holocaust Survivors. Transaction Publishers. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-4128-5315-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=CfH-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9. 
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Levin, Irene (2016) (in en). The Holocaust as Active Memory: The Past in the Present. Routledge. pp. 97–98. ISBN 978-1-317-02866-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=hIK1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97. 
  35. ↑ Segev, Tom (2019) (in en). The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-8090-8579-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=hUW0DwAAQBAJ&q=another%20holocaust. 
  36. ↑ "PM: Israel ready to defend against another Holocaust" (in en). 2013-06-13. https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/pm-israel-prepared-to-prevent-another-holocaust-316439. 
  37. ↑ "Pence accuses Iran of pursuing 'another Holocaust,' lashes out at allies" (in en). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pence-accuses-iran-pursuing-new-holocaust-lashes-out-allies-n971516. Retrieved 8 May 2020. 
  38. ↑ "Tel Aviv Diary: Two very different takes on what the Holocaust means today" (in en). Newsweek. 24 April 2017. https://www.newsweek.com/tel-aviv-diary-two-takes-what-holocaust-means-today-588664. Retrieved 8 May 2020. 
  39. ↑ "Hamas attack evokes memories of the Holocaust for many Jews". 2023-10-20. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-attack-evokes-memories-holocaust-many-jews-rcna120590. 
  40. ↑ "A 'Zionist in my heart': Biden's devotion to Israel faces a new test". 2023-10-12. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-israel-gaza-dachau-holocaust-hamas-919058eec36dca4c06cf9fc4355fe302. 
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Danan, Deborah (2025-04-30). "In tearful reversal, Holocaust survivors mourn beloved IDF soldiers killed since Oct. 7". https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-tearful-reversal-holocaust-survivors-mourn-beloved-idf-soldiers-killed-since-oct-7/. 
  42. ↑ Odenheimer, Natan; Fassihi, Farnaz; Boxerman, Aaron; Nagourney, Eric (2025-06-15). "Israel and Iran Trade Attacks as Toll From Conflict Mounts". https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/15/world/middleeast/iran-israel-missile-strikes.html. 
  43. ↑ Steven Plaut, "One State Solution vs Two-State Solution?," Arutz Sheva (3/3/2008). Retrieved 2013-12-17.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 "Survivors, scholars say threat of another Holocaust is not to be ignored". The Jerusalem Post. https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/survivors-scholars-say-threat-of-another-holocaust-is-not-to-be-ignored-607909. Retrieved 8 May 2020. 
  45. ↑ Greenwood, Hanan (23 January 2020). "Another Holocaust is possible, warns former chief rabbi". Israel Hayom. https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/01/23/another-holocaust-is-possible-warns-former-chief-rabbi/. Retrieved 8 May 2020. 
  46. ↑ Weiner, Justus Reid; Bell, Avi (2009–2010). "The Gaza War of 2009: Applying International Humanitarian Law to Israel and Hamas". San Diego International Law Journal 11 (5): 5–42. https://digital.sandiego.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&context=ilj. 
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Winer, Stuart (15 October 2023). "Hamas actions are war crimes, could constitute genocide – international law experts" (in en-US). https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-actions-are-war-crimes-could-constitute-genocide-international-law-experts/. 
  48. ↑ Sokol, Sam (Oct 16, 2023). "Deadly Hamas Rampage Constitutes 'International Crime of Genocide,' Hundreds of Legal Experts Say" (in en). Haaretz. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-16/ty-article/hamas-deadly-rampage-constitutes-crime-of-genocide-hundreds-of-legal-experts-say/0000018b-37d1-d450-a3af-7fddda070000. 
  49. ↑ Ohlin, Jens David (2023-10-12). "International Criminal Law Analysis of the Situation in Israel" (in en-US). https://opiniojuris.org/2023/10/12/international-criminal-law-analysis-of-the-situation-in-israel/. 
  50. ↑ Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah (2010-01-21) (in en). Worse Than War: Genocide, eliminationism and the ongoing assault on humanity. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-7481-1586-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=oucgOBX0LxMC. 
  51. ↑ Pindar, Ian (2010-02-06). "Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/06/worse-than-war-daniel-goldhagen. 
  52. ↑ Radler, Melissa (2002-09-25). "STATESIDE: News from Jewish America". https://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1023716535764. 
  53. ↑ "Debates (Hansard) No. 208 - June 18, 2002 (37-1)" (in en). June 18, 2002. https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/37-1/house/sitting-208/hansard. "...this is not a suicide bombing as much as it is a genocidal bombing where the terrorists, by their own sacred covenant, intend the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews wherever they may be.

    This is murder for the sake of murder, terrorism for the sake of terrorism, motivated by the notion that, as the terrorists themselves have put it, 'the weakness of the Jews is that they love life too much'. So that the terrorists celebrate the killing as they glorify the genocidal bombing..."     
  54. ↑ "SECURITY COUNCIL MEETS IN RESPONSE TO SECURITY MEASURES IMPOSED BY ISRAEL ON WEST BANK, GAZA". 15 April 1996. https://press.un.org/en/1996/19960415.sc6206.html. "[Israel] had the right to protect its citizens against Hamas genocide bombings." 
  55. ↑ "Judaicide" (in en). 2005-06-10. https://forward.com/news/3656/judaicide/. 
  56. ↑ Beichman, Arnold (April 23, 2004). "Targets" (in en-US). https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/apr/23/20040423-081806-2252r/. 
  57. ↑ "Israel's education minister: Intermarriage among US Jews 'like second Holocaust'". The Times of Israel. ISSN 0040-7909. https://www.timesofisrael.com/education-minister-calls-intermarriage-in-us-a-second-holocaust/. Retrieved 6 May 2020. 
  58. ↑ Beauchamp, Zack (10 July 2019). "Israeli minister says US Jews marrying non-Jews is 'like a second Holocaust'" (in en). Vox. https://www.vox.com/2019/7/10/20687946/israel-minister-second-holocaust-intermarriage. Retrieved 7 May 2020. 



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Holocaust&oldid=4227663"