Leon Weintraub was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1926 and was later deported with his family by the National Socialists. He survived several concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Groß-Rosen and Flossenbürg. After the Second World War, he studied medicine in Göttingen, lived in Poland until 1969 and then moved to Sweden, near Stockholm. Weintraub is 100 years old today and is still active as a contemporary witness and speaker.
WORLD: Mr. Weintraub, it is always said that history does not repeat itself. They survived the Holocaust. They were in Tel Aviv on October 7, 2023, when Israel was invaded and around 1,200 people were murdered. Now I ask you again, also in view of the developments in Germany: Are you afraid that history will repeat itself?
Leon Weintraub: I'm not convinced about repetition. It's never identical. But these waves of certain events, attitudes, come again and again. On this October 7, 2023, on this fateful day, I was in Tel Aviv with my wife Evamaria visiting relatives and friends. We were woken up at half past six in the morning by the sound of sirens. But it wasn't a fire department, it wasn't an ambulance. It was a completely different tone. And to my shock I was back in September 1939. I felt again: I was at war.
That was a very terrible awakening. And then after a few hours we found out what happened. That a group of terrorists under the name of Hamas invaded Israel - and murdered civilians, old people, young people, children, women and men in an incredibly inhumane way.
WORLD: Was the massacre something you even thought was possible?
Weintraub: It was unbelievable that people could develop so much hatred and slaughter others in such a brutal way. I can't get this image off my retina: this terrorist who grabbed a young woman by the legs, raped her and then showed off her exposed, bleeding body to others. And then he shoots her in the back of the head, murdering her. How can a human being be capable of such a thing? This is unbelievable to me.
These aren't people. But animals wouldn't do something like that either. Killing animals to eat because they are hungry. These people threw babies into burning houses. And everything was filmed, captured on video. This is documented even more clearly than the events of the Second World War - and they have been processed like no other event in world history. In words and pictures from the survivors, from the liberators - and last but not least from the perpetrators themselves.
And yet today there are people who, despite those millions upon millions of deaths in World War II, deny things. And also deny what happened in Israel three years ago.
WORLD: Let's look at the current political situation in Germany. There are parties, namely the AfD, that advocate rethinking the culture of remembrance in Germany. This must hurt you personally.
Weintraub: Today there are a lot of people in this country who dream of a Greater Germany. About a “pure” Germany – without thinking about what would happen if from one day to the next everyone who was not born here, all non-Aryan Germans, left the country. The country would collapse. All the people who work here would suddenly be gone. Unbelievable! And what kind of violation of human rights would that be? What is now happening in Germany is incredibly painful for me as a survivor of the Holocaust, as a person who studied medicine in Germany after the war and is very connected to the country.
WORLD: Do you think that a ban should be brought against the AfD? Or is this party something that a democracy has to endure?
Weintraub: I am convinced that democracy is even obliged to consider a ban! After all, how can a democracy tolerate publicly funding a party that seeks to abolish democracy? That's a paradox!
A party that says: Not everyone who wore SS uniforms were criminals. And that Hitler was not only evil, but that he also did good deeds. Who are these people who say things like that? What kind of roots do they have? What are they up to?
And I can only repeat that these right-wing radicals really have to be taken seriously. Not like in the 30s. Hitler managed to come to power back then.
But I'm not just worried about the right-wing extremists. This also applies to the radical left, whose members I actually thought were educated, that they were intellectuals. Both go in the same direction. This is a big disappointment for me.
WORLD: Where do you see the greater danger? Is this the right wing with the AfD? Or is that the left fringe - the Left Party is accused of being openly anti-Semitic.
Weintraub: I think the right wing is threatening through actual use of violence. There are people there who also get physical. The radical left is more sophisticated. She tries to poison thoughts - and thus causes great damage. It distorts reality and tries to portray it contrary to the facts. Through her do-gooder actions she distorts reality. The attacked, the state of Israel, is suddenly the evil one. And the attackers, Hamas and their supporters, their followers, are suddenly the victims. This rhetorical influence is incredibly harmful.
WORLD: When you see developments in Germany and Europe, do you have the impression that the federal government here, but also other democratically elected governments across Europe, are actually in a position to effectively combat this extremism on the left and right?
Weintraub: There are enough examples in Germany that it has been possible to ban certain groups. Like the KPD at the time, the FDJ and the NPD, which was also right-wing radical. I believe that a strong state like Germany, which managed to become a constitutional state after the war through great efforts - from Adenauer onwards - still has the strength to enforce freedom and democracy now.
I'm an incurable optimist. If you see that the AfD got 43 percent in the elections in Saxony-Anhalt, then that means that 57 percent voted differently. I always see the positive. And I am fully aware of the weight of my statement when I say: Germany is not only a democracy, but must also identify the enemies of democracy and treat them accordingly.
