Natalie Portman: Holocaust is no more tragic than other genocides

In an interview with ‘The Independent’, she questions the precedent of putting Holocaust education before all other national tragedies.

JPOST

Holocaust survivor advocates harshly criticized Natalie Portman on Sunday, after the Israeli-born actress/director stated that the Holocaust is no more tragic than other genocides and questioned its prominence in Jewish education.

In an interview with The Independent published on Friday, the American movie star questioned the prominence given to Holocaust education at the expense of other mass murders.

“I think a really big question the Jewish community needs to ask itself, is how much at the forefront we put Holocaust education. Which is, of course, an important question to remember and to respect, but not over other things,” she was quoted as saying.

She recalled learning about the Rwandan Genocide during a visit to a museum and being shocked that while the Holocaust figured prominently into her education, a contemporary genocide did not.

According to the United Nations, 800,000 people, “perhaps as many as three quarters of the Tutsi [tribal] population” were killed during the course of the early nineties genocide.

“I was shocked that that [it] was going on while I was in school. We were learning only about the Holocaust and it was never mentioned and it was happening while I was in school. That is exactly the type of problem with the way it’s taught. I think it needs to be taught, and I can’t speak for everyone because this was my personal education,” she told The Independent.

“We need to be reminded that hatred exists at all times and reminds us to be empathetic to other people that have experienced hatred also. Not used as a paranoid way of thinking that we are victims. Sometimes it can be subverted to fear-mongering and like ‘Another Holocaust is going to happen,’” she said.

Holocaust survivor advocates were quick to condemn Portman’s comments.

“While I agree with Natalie Portman that hatred exists in every part of the world, our area included, her understanding of the Holocaust seems limited,” said Colette Avital, the chairwoman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel.

“Natalie should understand that the Holocaust which befell us cannot be compared to other tragedies –  our empathy notwithstanding. It was not merely hatred, it was a policy whose aim was to systematically wipe out  a whole people from the face of the world,” she explained.

“I agree that the education we give our children should not encourage a continuous sense of being the eternal victims. The lessons to be drawn from the Holocaust are that life should be sanctified, and that we should be more humane. What should be taught is also the incredible resilience of our people who have risen from the ashes , rebuilt their lives and built a country of their own.”

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, a professional Nazi hunter who heads the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office, agreed, telling the Post that “with all due respect for Ms. Portman’s great acting and directing talents, her success in the movie world does not turn her into an expert in history or on genocide. If she wants to express her sympathy with all victims of such tragedies, this is definitely not a smart way to do so.”

Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich voiced similar concerns.

“As human beings and especially as Jews, we need to be sensitive to all tragedies, to all genocides.  As human beings and especially as Jews, we must ensure that all remember the uniqueness of the Holocaust, in it’s scope and in it’s scale,” he said.

Portman has been on a press tour to promote her new film “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” in which she makes her directorial debut.

The film which first debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in France, stars Portman as the mentally ill mother of celebrated Israeli author Amos Oz during the rising tensions that lead up to the War of Independence in Mandatory Palestine.