Among 34,000 people in the town of O\u015bwi\u0119cim is just one Jew \u2013 a young Israeli named Hila Weisz-Gut. It\u2019s an interesting choice of residence, given the most famous feature of the town is its proximity to the Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz \u2013 where at least 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, died between 1940 and 1945. <\/p>\n
Nearly every member of Weisz-Gut\u2019s grandmother\u2019s family was lethally gassed there upon arrival in a cargo transport from Hungary. Today, Weisz-Gut can see Auschwitz III-Monowitz, where her grandmother survived, from her bedroom window. <\/p>\n
She moved from Israel to join her Polish husband in O\u015bwi\u0119cim, his hometown, in 2023, fully aware of her own family\u2019s tragic history. <\/p>\n
For Weisz-Gut, maintaining a Jewish presence in the town \u2013 even if tiny \u2013 is vital. As the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp nears, on January 27, a disturbing trend is emerging across Europe, monitoring groups say \u2013 the rise of antisemitism. <\/p>\n
Factors in this may be anger over the war in Gaza and a growing far-right presence in some countries, where electoral successes have lent far-right politicians and their supporters a louder voice. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights said some organizations had reported a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents since the October 7, 2023 terror attacks in Israel. <\/p>\n
The story of O\u015bwi\u0119cim, whose population was nearly 60% Jewish in 1939 before the Nazis arrived, serves as a stark reminder of what unbridled antisemitism can unleash. <\/p>\n
Weisz-Gut currently works at the town\u2019s Oshpitzin Jewish Museum, educating Israeli visitors about the region\u2019s once-vibrant Jewish community. The museum has said she is the only Jewish person living in O\u015bwi\u0119cim. <\/p>\n
This past year, living so close to Auschwitz has taken on greater significance for Weisz-Gut. On October 7, 2023 she sat horrorstruck as she watched social media videos of Israelis running for their lives at the Nova music festival after Hamas militants attacked. Her mother, who lives 10 minutes from the Lebanese border in northern Israel, has had to take refuge in an underground shelter amid strikes launched by Hezbollah. <\/p>\n
Since the attack, Weisz-Gut has felt forced to take account of the specter of increasing prejudice in Europe on a personal level. While on a trip to London, she said, her mother and husband urged caution, suggesting she remove her Jewish star necklace. She also wore long sleeves to cover a tattoo in Hebrew. \u201cSince the war with Gaza, people don\u2019t separate between Jewish people and Israeli people,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are no clear boundaries.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Community Security Trust, a Jewish security charity, recorded 1,978 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2024, a record high. A sharp uptick in anti-Muslim hate has also been reported in the UK since the October 7 attacks. <\/p>\n
France, which has the largest Jewish population in Europe, recently reported a sharp rise in antisemitism since October 7, with reported incidents increasing by 284%. In Germany, there has also been a steep increase in reported antisemitic crime, according to a government report, with greater incidence of violence. <\/p>\n
Much of the problem occurs online and via social media. \u201cThe digital world is the Wild West. There are no rules, there is no law. There are almost no consequences,\u201d explained Dervi\u015f H\u0131zarc\u0131, the head of the board at KIgA, a Berlin-based organization whose international network, ENCATE, fights hatred and antisemitism. \u201cI think online hate is the biggest challenge after October 7.\u201d <\/p>\n
Still, Weisz-Gut remains committed to living a Jewish life in Europe, specifically in the town co-opted by the Nazis to create the largest death machine in modern history. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s a statement that they tried to break us and exterminate us, but they failed,\u201d she said of her presence in a place so associated with the Nazi regime. \u201cWe are the generation that is here to say \u2018you didn\u2019t succeed. No more. Not again.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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