The term “holocaust survivor” usually renders a specific type of image in one’s mind. It’s easy to picture an ancient Bubbe or Zayde (Yiddish for “Grandmother” and “Grandfather”) trembling over a walker at the front of a synagogue, discussing the importance of “Israel” to ensuring Jewish safety.
That description certainly does not apply to Suzanne Ross, the author of “Born Jewish in Nazi Europe: My Journey to Become Anti-Zionist.” Ross was born in Nazi-occupied Belgium in the late 1930s. Ironically, her family fled to Belgium due to Nazi oppression in Germany and Poland. Turns out, nowhere in Europe was remotely safe for Jews at the time.
The book details her family’s early days fleeing Nazi persecution and how that experience shaped her views on the occupation of Palestine. Most of her extended family on both her mother’s and father’s side were not so lucky. Upwards of 30 members of her family were murdered outright by Nazi terror or died in concentration camps. As she describes, it was this sort of trauma that allowed U.S.-backed Zionist propaganda to take such a hold in the recently displaced European Jewish community.
What is striking about Ross’s experience as a child, experiencing the loss of so many family members, is how similar her story is to the hundreds and thousands of horror stories that come out of Gaza every week. It is exactly this sort of stark parallel that led Ross herself to abandon Zionism as an ideology and embrace the liberation of Palestine from Western imperialism.
As history unfolded, Ross’ views evolved dramatically along with the Zionist escalation against the entire Arab world. Ross attended university in the United States and quickly became involved in activism against racist Jim Crow conditions in the U.S. and apartheid in South Africa. The late ‘60s and early ‘70s saw a massive upsurge in aggression from the United States towards Arab liberation movements, all through the U.S. proxy state of “Israel.”
Ross’s memoir does an amazing job of analyzing how the contradictions between her growing anti-racist activism and her previous support for Israel led her to the conclusion that the two could not be reconciled. Simply put, either we are against all forms of imperialism and fascism, the same systems that perpetrated the Holocaust, or we aren’t.
While Gaza burns and Zionist forces lay claim to what they assert as their divine right to conquer Syria, Ross’s perspective is more important than ever. At its heart, Ross’s memoir is an ironclad case against Zionist mythology. Through the history of her life and the global geopolitical events that defined her life, she makes it abundantly clear that the Zionist project is no more than a U.S. imperialist front against the entire Global South. And that is exactly why her book is a must read.
Personal note
I usually don’t write in the first person. But after finishing Ross’ book and starting this review, I felt the need to say something on a personal level. Her evolution from a liberal Zionist to a passionate anti-Zionist activist is personally relatable. I am descended from people who faced the brunt of both Tsarist antisemitic pogroms in the Russian empire and the horror of the Shoah (Hebrew word for holocaust). I personally stood in Charlottesville as Nazis streamed past and around me, stuffed to the gills with body armor and carrying swastika-laden banners. However, Jews have a responsibility to stand up to all Nazis, regardless of whether they fly the confederate flag or the Star of David.
As I have grown older, I have only found more stunning the way that Jewish Zionists justify the genocide against the Palestinian people. As Ross details – the parallels are so clear. The connections are so patent. The catastrophic loss of life, limb, and land at the hands of a fascist enemy is no stranger to the Jewish community. Unfortunately, we allowed ourselves to be led into the depths of fascism by the United States in the dogged pursuit of its own agenda in the Middle East.
With all that said, it was beyond refreshing to read a Jewish perspective for liberation. I will always be eternally grateful that Suzanne had the courage to tell her story. It was something that a young Jew like myself needed to hear.
Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.
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