Thursday, 4th


May 2017


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East Cork Business Post The Plight of the Jewish People – Worldly Perspectives


by DR ROSARII GRIFFIN


When I was in my teens, I started reading a number of books based on World War I and II. I became more interested in WWII which started in 1939 and finished in 1945. Following World War I (1914-18), dubbed ‘The Great War’, no one could believe that the world would witness a second war of such magnitude so soon after WW1, but we did, and little more than 20 years on. In fact, the seeds of WWII are found in the ‘settlement’ of WWI - the famous ‘Trea- ty of Versailles’. This Trea- ty punished Germany by charging enormous repara- tion damages for WWI, and annexed part of the Rhine Valley area, ensuring most coal and steel production benefitted France and other countries. Hence, the seeds of German resentment were set, becoming the catalyst for World War II.


The Rise of Populism


In the 1930s, Hitler rose to power though populism, not unlike the populism we are witnessing today. Pop- ulism arises because of de- pression, and a division of the classes into those who have and those who do not have. Those who are down on their luck blame ‘the other’ for their misfortune. People revert to protec- tionist policies and coun- tries become very nation- alistic. Hitler’s rise came at an opportune time, and his populist message was well received. His SS army brutalised many minority groups, whilst ordinary Ger- mans turned a blind eye.


Hitler and the Jews One of Hitler’s main gripes was against the Jew- ish people. Hitler, when he was younger, wanted to


be an artist, but failed to achieve his ambition in Vi- enna, where the Jewish peo- ple formed part of the pow- erful wealthy elite class, though they were a minority group. He blamed them for his lack of success as an artist and vowed to pun- ish them along with other non-Arian ethnic minority groups, for his and the Ger- man peoples’ misfortunes. The Jewish people tradition- ally kept the wealth within their own circles. This cre- ated resentment amongst the middle and lower classes, making this minority group an easy target for anti-Se- mitic rhetoric.


Hitler’s Ambitions Soon, with the impact of the recession and depres- sion and the German anger that following WWI, the prospect of WWII grew, and with it, Hitler’s rise to pow- er. Hitler wrote his Treatise, called ‘Mein Kampf’. This was his little red book of revenge and hate. Ironically, this little publication was to mark the beginning of the end of the Jewish people and their place in Europe. Between 1939 and 1945, Hitler managed to extermi- nate, through gross, violent and murderous means, the majority of European Jew- ish community through his ‘final solution’. This en- tailed the extermination of the Jewish race. In that pe- riod, now referred to as ‘the Holocaust’, 2 million Jews were shot by the SS army, and 4 million Jewish peo- ple (including 1.5 million Jewish children, and other minority groups), were mur- dered in gas chambers. This was to become the largest ethnic-cleansing known to mankind, which virtually wiped


out the European


Jewish people, leaving just 1% survivors.


Disbelief and Shock When the news filtered out about the Concentration Camps in Poland or Germa- ny, nobody could believe it. These concentration camps included: Auschwitz and Birkenau, Belzec, Chelm-


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no and Gross-Rosen in Poland; and Bergen-Bels- en, Buchenwald, Dachau and Flossenburg camps in Germany. It seemed to be exaggerated, too vile, too unreal to be true. But un- fortunately, as news reports filtered out through spies, allied soldiers, survivor sto- ries, and through witnesses’ accounts, it was indeed all true. But it was already too late for the majority of the Jewish


community, most


noble and notable amongst them - the innocent Anne Frank and her beautiful and beleaguered Jewish family.


Prejudice and Self- Preservation Hitler fed off of the prejudice and ignorance of the masses. He pointed the finger of blame for all of Austria and Germany’s woes at the Jews who were comparatively wealthy and protected against the worst effects of the depression due to their business acumen. Their ethnic differences became a source of ridicule and hatred amongst the peo- ple. This laid the ground for Hitler’s cunning plans. First of all, he introduced laws restricting Jews un- dertaking certain business activities, then he restrict- ed their movements, and finally, they had to identify themselves by wearing the ‘Star of David’ badge on their coats. The SS encour- aged hate acts against the Jews, and fed off the frenzy of the populace. And so, by World War II’s end, through the careful application of ‘the final solution’, the Jew- ish population was almost extinguished. How could this happen? Why did this happen? Could it happen again? Who next will be the next victims of peoples’ ire? Syrian immigrants? Muslim refugees? Other minority groups?


Working for the Jewish When I was sixteen, I worked as an au-pair in Lyon. The father of the fam- ily was Jewish. I noticed he was a very hard worker. He


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was a carpet salesman that depended upon commission to earn his living. He must have been very successful as he had a wonderful house, a fantastic conservatory and a beautiful garden right in the heart of the leafy suburbs of Lyon. He was of Swiss Jew origin. This was no doubt since WWII, his family pos- sibly escaped to


Switzer-


land, which remained a neu- tral country during the war. Clearly, his family found refuge there. When things settled down, he returned to France, to begin life again. His daughter, Karina, was also a very successful sales- person. Only 18 at the time, Karina was very beautiful, chic and smart and was for- ever winning prizes, perks and bonuses for being the best salesperson at her workplace. She was truly amazing. Her father though, I noticed, was very thrifty with money. It was difficult to shop for the family as he queried everything that went into the trolley. ‘Did we really need that for the house?’ He would ask me. ‘Yes, it’s has run out’, I re- assured him. Begrudgingly he might leave it in. Anoth- er time, I added particular hair products for Karina. He wanted to know why these were going into the trolley. I explained Karina needed them. He retorted gruffly, ‘Karina is earning her own money, she can buy them for herself’, and replaced them back on the shelf. Tough love, I thought. I had to explain this later to Karina. She passed a few expletives, but understood it was outside my control. Alain, her father, was defi- nitely judicious with money. While one cannot general- ise from one person espe- cially as I am sympathetic to the Jews and their tragic history. Nonetheless, Alain fitted the typical Jewish ste- reotype: wealthy, a diligent worker, intelligent with a brilliant business mind, but tight-fisted with money.


Observing a Jewish Community


My second experience


of Jewish people was in Strasbourg, France where I spent some time as a stu- dent. In Strasbourg, there was a strong community of orthodox Jews. These are a very traditional ethnic group of Jews with a strict dress code. The men wore black hats with long facial sideburns accompanied by pointed black beards. They rarely smiled or looked up. They tended to go together in groups. Often they would hold a small black book, which I assumed was the Torah (the Jewish Bible). Maybe these were semi- narians, I was not sure, as I was never able to engage any of them in conversation. They appeared to be closed to others living in the city. I don’t recall seeing Jew- ish women amongst them either, or none that I could recognise. Strasbourg was a rich city, comparatively speaking. Nor was I sure if the wealth resided with- in this Jewish community. They just seemed to have a noticeable presence in this City, and appeared quite conservative and strict in their religious attire and ob- servance.


The NY Jewish Community


The Jewish Community


in New York are known to be quite a powerful lobby group. The Clinton’s wooed this group to secure valu- able votes and campaign funding. Typically, the Jew- ish lobby group votes Dem- ocrat. When I worked in NY as a student on a J1 Visa, it was said at the time, ‘once there was a Jewish Holiday, NY effectively shuts down’. Most of the big businesses in NY are run by the Jew- ish community. Many Jews escaped the perils of World War II, finding refuge in America - the land of the free, where religious toler- ance was then a feature of the American landscape. Some famous Jewish ref- ugees include Albert Ein- stein,


probably the scientist of the 20th best Cen-


tury. His genius was rec- ognised, nurtured, and his


35


achievements reached such heights in the USA, that he will surely go down as one of the greatest scientists of all time. And, there were many more Jewish refugees like Einstein, who excelled in their respective profes- sions. For instance, 22% of all Nobel Prize winners are Jewish (comprising 0.2% of the world’s population). Now that is some statistic to behold!


The Jewish Work Ethic


I was employed by a very successful NY dentist who was totally on top of his game. He also worked very hard. He left his home on Long Island at 6am to begin work in Manhattan at 7am. He had many success- ful, busy business clients who needed early morning appointments before work, or after work. Dr Steinburg would oblige. He worked long hours, until 7pm, and be home by 8pm or 9pm, following a long day. Some days, he didn’t even stop for coffee or lunch. I used to press him to have lunch, reprimanding him severely (with my Irish brogue): ‘if I were a patient going un- der the needle knowing my dentist did not have a lunch, I would object’ I would say harshly to him. He would smile and allow me to bring back a sandwich for him. Ordinarily he would have a tuna sandwich with toma- to but no onion, for fear of upsetting his elite clientele with bad breath.


I thoroughly enjoyed working for Dr Steinburg. While there, I noticed the majority of his clients were Jewish, and very successful in their own work spheres, be it media, medical sci- ence, business or finance. I noticed how this close-knit community supported each other. Dr Steinburg regu- larly used to read the latest journals in dentistry, and attended professional de- velopment courses, learning new techniques, tips or ad- vances in his profession. I was impressed by his singu- lar dedication to dentistry. I didn’t think there could be any dental invention that he did not know about such


was his dedication. Before I left, he kindly offered to train me in fulltime, poten- tially becoming a full part- ner in the practice. While I very much appreciated his generous offer, I knew I had my own path to travel - re- turning to Ireland and con- tinuing with my own studies there.


Final Analysis This brings me to my fi- nal point about the Jewish community. In my experi- ence, they are clever, affa- ble, very willing to share their knowledge, expertise, advice, and are very hard working. In America, they learnt the rules of the game to realise their American Dream: work hard, learn continuously, grow into ex- pertise, and succeed. The Jewish community always support each other. They know when and where to spend their hard earned doe. To me, the Jewish are a community of makers, of doers,


of learners and of


net contributors, neither are they a community of mind- less consumers. Not at least unless they know that their final investment will exceed the initial net contribution!


Jewish Friends I once asked a Jewish friend ‘why are the Jew- ish people like cream, they always rise to the top of their game?’ He answered me simply, the Jewish peo- ple have had a difficult and chequered history. They are resilient and developed all kinds of survival mecha- nisms for withstanding dif- ficult circumstances. But, he said, they know what matters most is what lies be- tween the two ears i.e. their knowledge. Throughout history, the Jews often had to leave their homes, live- lihoods and wealth behind, but they could always carry their knowledge, skills and abilities with them wherev- er they went. As an educa- tionalist, that explanation pleased me, and summed up the Jewish recipe for success. I think we could all learn something from it. I could at least! Contact Ro- sarii at info@eastcorkjour- nal.ie or @rosarii_griffin


Tel: 021 463 8000 • Email: info@eastcorkjournal.ie • Web: www.eastcorkjournal.ie


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