"You are not to blame for antisemitism": Auschwitz survivor in a personal letter to Jewish students

With the start of the academic year around the world, and in the shadow of the rising antisemitism on campuses since October 7, hundreds of thousands of Jewish students are expected to receive a personal letter and a video message from 98-year-old Holocaust survivor and educator, Nate Leipciger.

This is an international initiative led by the "International March of the Living" organization, which has been joined by a long list of Jewish organizations, student organizations, and bodies operating on campuses. Among the partners in distributing the letter are the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), the Jewish Agency, the ASHER organization, the World Zionist Organization, IAC on Campus, and the Students Supporting Israel (SSI) organization. The letter is being distributed starting today, September 1, the day World War II broke out.

A reality of fear and hidden identity

At the age of 15, Leipciger was sent with his family to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, where he was separated from his mother and sister, whom he never saw again. Together with his father, he survived Auschwitz, the death march, and other camps. Today he lives in Canada, and for decades he has made sure to tell his story to future generations as part of the March of the Living. Leipciger's concern stems from the persecution he experienced firsthand as a teenager under Nazi occupation, but also from current events. Just a few months ago, in the building where he lives in Toronto, two incidents occurred in which mezuzahs were torn from the doors of apartments where elderly Jews live, including Holocaust survivors.

In his letter, Leipciger addresses the students returning to campuses, at a time when their Jewish identity and connection to Israel have become for some of them a subject they must explain or justify. He addresses the pain, fear, and anger they have carried since the outbreak of the war, and notes that they may have seen how the murder and kidnapping of Jews were met with excuses, celebrations, or silence. Against the background of some young people's fear of wearing a Star of David or a kippah, he writes to them that they are not responsible for the hatred directed at them, and that they do not need to hide who they are to earn the right to belong. "Never allow those who hate you to define you," he rules.

The Jewish homeland and the distinction from discrimination

Leipciger asks young people not to allow anyone to force them into a false choice between their Jewish identity and their place in the wider world. He clarifies that no one should demand that they deny history, disavow the Jewish people, or give up their connection to Israel. For those who lived in a period when Jews had no safe place, he emphasizes, a Jewish homeland is not an abstract idea, but the answer to the helplessness experienced during the Holocaust.

Alongside this, he makes a clear distinction in his letter between legitimate criticism of any government, including the government of Israel, and harming Jews because of their identity. According to him, the harassment or exclusion of Jewish students, the celebration of violence against them, or the demand that they disavow part of their identity, are not considered criticism, but constitute discrimination. He also addresses the students' connection with their peers in Israel, and reminds them that just as in the past young people fought in the ghettos for the honor of the people, so today there are young people in Israel who risk their lives every day defending the Jewish state.

"Antisemitism is ancient, your future is not"

Leipciger's dedication to education brings him back again and again to the most difficult place in his life. Last April, he participated in the March of the Living for the 22nd time — more than any other Holocaust survivor from the diaspora — and marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau, passing on the responsibility for remembering the Holocaust to the younger generation. In his letter, he calls on students to find each other, support friends who feel isolated, build alliances, and stand up against any form of racism, hatred towards minorities, and dehumanization. Leipciger signs his appeal with an empowering message, in which he reminds young people that they belong to a people that has survived exile and persecution but continues to learn, celebrate, and hope, and concludes: "Antisemitism is ancient. Your future is not."