Amsterdam and ‘bystander-ism’ – Has the world learned from the hatred of Kristallnacht 86 years later?

“Only when the world will wake up to see the pattern will they understand that you can do better, you can know more, and you cannot fall for the same tricks of history.”

Dr. Elana Heideman, a Holocaust educator, spoke to Christian journalist Paul Calvert in the aftermath of the attacks on Israelis and other Jewish visitors who attended a soccer match in Amsterdam on Nov. 7.

Heideman, a Jewish identity transformational leader and Jewish rights activist, explained how history is repeating itself, and said that until people read the writing on the wall, the scourge of antisemitism will continue, once again making the world a dangerous place for Jews.

She described the “massive attacks” and “onslaught” against Israeli fans and Jewish community members following the soccer match between the Dutch team Ajax and the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.

“It was a targeted attack where it was very calculated in terms of how these attacks happened and many people were injured. It was a frightful, frightful situation happening on the eve of Kristallnacht, the ‘night of broken glass,’ just in the same community where once, so many years ago, it feels like the same hatred came to life,” Heideman said.

Heideman began the Israel Forever Foundation to “channel the lessons of the Holocaust into expressions of modern-day understanding.” Having been mentored by the late Holocaust survivor, professor, and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, Heideman reminded listeners of the events that unfolded on Kristallnacht.

On Nov. 9 and 10 of 1938, following the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933, “in the middle of the night, they went and smashed Jewish businesses and burned synagogues to the ground,” she said. “They targeted and attacked Jews all throughout the streets and in private homes and private property. There were almost a thousand Jews who were murdered that night. There were uncountable attacks, physical rapes, attempted murders.”

Heideman stressed that Kristallnacht was a “true shift in the understanding of the physicality of the hate that had been festering within [the German] society for already over a decade.” She explained that this physical expression, this night of broken glass, “brought about a visual manifestation, a physical one, and it created a deeper segment in society.”

Many Germans “basically went silently onward with their lives,” said the Holocaust researcher, “and there were 33,000 Jews who were arrested that night and sent to concentration camps.”

Heideman explained that while the humiliation of Jews in Germany had been ongoing since 1935, Kristallnacht marked a turning point, as it signaled the start of widespread physical assaults on Jews and the active participation of the general population.

“And so the coincidence, the shock, shall we say, of Amsterdam, takes place in these same societies where it has festered year after year, and has never really been understood by the majority of society as a turning point as it needs to be.”

This ‘turning point,’ she said, is the age-old trick of the demonization of one group of people. “Again and again the Jews are accused,” she noted, “on Kristallnacht, before Kristallnacht and since Kristallnacht.”

“We have been accused for October 7. We have been accused for everything. And only when the world will wake up to see the pattern will they understand that you can do better, you can know more, and you cannot fall for the same tricks of history,” she added.

Heideman told Calvert she was shocked to see the way Israelis were treated in Europe, but more shocked by the reaction than by the actual attacks themselves.

“The shock needs to come,” she said, “from how many people in general society are willing to allow this, to stand up for it, to defend it, not recognizing the patterns of history that they need to be seeing.”

Heideman noted that the morning after “the ramming, the running over, the kicking and the beating of Jews openly in the streets” in Amsterdam, people were chanting ‘Free Palestine!’

It was “as if this motto, this concept that is totally warped, is justification for beating Jews in the streets,” she added.

Heideman said that many other instances of antisemitism taking place around the worldwide Kristallnacht commemorations were not reported, but noted that each incident had one thing in common – the blaming of Jews.

“So you have students attacked on campus,” she said. “You have children being attacked publicly in the street. There was an attempted kidnapping of a Jewish child in a street in New York. There have been attempted stranglings at protests. There have been countless attacks against Jews…

“But the 'bystander-ism' is one of the biggest elements of the enabling that is happening to the societies that are trying to bring about another genocide against the Jews, and they’re doing so by claiming the Jews are the problem, by claiming the Jews committed a genocide.”

Heideman compared this trend with the Nazi ideology of Aryanism; the idea that Jews were “infiltrating and poisoning the society,” and posed a threat. “And the Jews were to blame for any suffering that may befall them,” she added. “There were leaders who [made] these statements: ‘The Jews are responsible for anything that might befall them.’”

Heideman said that she was not entirely shocked that the attacks occurred in Amsterdam.

“I’ve been predicting this for years, that there is no way that the street is not going to explode, that there has been so many emotions fanned and flamed, and so many networks established to allow for the infiltration of terror mentality amongst the open society.”

Calvert noted that ‘Free Palestine’ stickers were reportedly found alongside razor blades outside an Amsterdam Holocaust museum the morning after the attacks, which has been labeled 'a pogrom' by Israel and members of the international community.

“This isn’t just a demonstration, is it?” he asked. “This is actual hatred.”

“Actual hatred; it is beyond hatred,” Heideman answered. “This is a thirst for blood. A society that is built on it.”

“And when I say society, we usually think of a locale. But no, this is an entire realm of the humanity of the world that has become so obsessed with this hatred, the same hatred that – as we’ve learned throughout history – the longest hatred in the world and the way that it infects from the inside. It can eat at somebody and it justifies any act. That is what we are seeing happen today.”

It all started with rhetoric in Nazi Germany, Heideman reminded listeners.

“You can see it in the caricatures of Nazi propaganda,” she said. One of the early posters showed a strong, blonde, Aryan man, handing out to the masses as if giving out strength, with the caption, ‘Work and bread.’

“[It was] a positive message that allowed them to infiltrate the mind and say, ‘With us, you’re doing good,’” Heideman explained. “And even though their manifesto since 1920 indicated the elimination of the Jew, people joined. People were on fire from their hate. It took 18 years before Kristallnacht took place.”

“So this hatred of the razor blades with ‘Free Palestine,’” she continued. “‘Free Palestine’ is the catch language. This is the way to get them in.”

There are, however, tactics that can be employed to counter this antisemitism-inspired and  “organized, systematic assault.”

“I believe very strongly that we need to be aware of the patterns that were used in their behavior,” she said. “They messaged openly on Snapchat. We have their Facebook and WhatsApp conversations, or whatever platforms they were pulled from – possibly Telegram. We know that there was a targeted assault and there were groups waiting for [the Israelis] of 5 to 15 individuals at each entrance…”

Heideman continued: “They went to hotels where they knew the Israelis were staying. They fired fireworks into the hotel windows. They stormed the lobbies. They had a network of Uber drivers and others, and the Israelis were ordering these cabs. And so then the cab drivers would be able to tell the terrorists, and that’s what we must call them.

“Everyone must recognize this ‘Free Palestine’ is nothing but a terrorist movement. And they can tell you that Israel is a terrorist state, but it is manipulation and lies. It is misdirection.”

Heideman argued, “We must be smarter, we must be more strategic, and we must understand their patterns are obvious, and we are not doing enough to recognize and therefore prevent.”

While Israel reported the incidents to Dutch authorities, she said that the response was insufficient. She said that the police failed to intervene and that there is evidence suggesting some officers may have been complicit.

She blamed the infiltration of jihadist ideologies over a decade of open borders, affecting various aspects of society.

Amid the ‘genocide’ calls, protests and surge in antisemitism, Calvert asked whether the world actually learned a lesson from the systematic genocide of six million Jews by the Nazi party eight decades ago.

“No, we have not,” Heideman replied. “I do believe we have learned some small lessons that have yet to be applied. I think that there are people who could do more, say more, but are inhibited by fear of losing their job, fear for their family.”

Referring back to the Amsterdam pogrom, she said: “Everything was organized, and they are much more organized than the world of bystanders who believe that the war against the Jews is not their war and indifference – out of a desire to just live your simple life – is threatening the world.”

The Israel Forever Foundation is helping empower people to speak out against the hatred. She recommends getting involved in councils and educational spaces.

“It requires a lot of work because their numbers are bigger. I would hope that we could figure out a way to circumvent the numbers of the people, and use smarter ways to achieve power and control over these dangerous tyrannic elements that are growing,” she said.

“My prayer would be that each person find one thing that they could do every day. One little thing.” This could be as simple as sharing or ‘liking’ a post on social media. Heideman’s site enables community and becoming a ‘virtual citizen of Israel.’

The vision of Israel Forever, she told Calvert, is for virtual citizens to form “an army to prevent the next growth of much further than just Amsterdam and October 7.”

“We are being shown, told by the enemy, what they are going to do and they are starting to do it…” she added.“My prayer is that people will be more aware of secretive behavior amongst their neighbors, trying to understand, maybe there is such a thing to people who would take part in such a pogrom so easily, in a different community.”

Heideman clarified that the definition of a ‘pogrom’ in today’s example – as opposed to the original meaning, the authorities looking away as Jews were persecuted, is “societal upheaval with permissiveness by a silent police force, a silent security force.”

“So my prayer would be that you check your security forces and you create the alliances so that these things do not happen,” she advised. “Apparently, some of the police were actively, maybe not taking part, but actively involved. Again, the messaging is out there. We have the evidence… So I pray that there shall be strength for everyone as we face this next chapter.”

She described the Israel Forever Foundation as “a space where people can come learn, engage, have activities, and be a part of a global community.” Virtual citizens include ‘Righteous among the Nations,’ she added, and the foundation can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. Heideman is also available to talk to local communities and has a podcast called, ‘A Jew Today.’

Click here to explore the ways you can get involved.

Click below to listen to the full interview.