Holocaust Memory Under Attack as Political Agendas Rewrite History
Historian Efraim Zuroff and educator Gil Segal warn that Holocaust remembrance is being distorted, diminished, or erased across Europe and the Arab world
By Gabriel Colodro / The Media Line
When the Latvian prosecutor’s office quietly closed its case against Herberts Cukurs—the Nazi collaborator known as the “Butcher of Riga”—Dr. Efraim Zuroff was not surprised. Outraged, but not surprised.
For the historian and former director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, the decision was just another chapter in what he calls “a dangerous game of forgetting.”
“It’s absolutely disgusting,” Zuroff said in an exclusive interview for The Media Line. “It’s totally wrong. This is a classic case of Holocaust distortion. It puts Mossad agents who risked their lives to execute him in the category of murderers—not as people who eliminated someone who deserved to be punished.”
Zuroff, who has spent more than four decades tracking down Nazi war criminals and advocating for justice, says this is no isolated incident.
“Look at the West,” he continued. “The US admitted 10,000 Nazi war criminals. You know how many they prosecuted? One hundred and nine. And Canada? They passed a law, tried one guy, and accepted his defense: ‘I was just following orders.’ That defense was rejected everywhere in the world. But not in Canada.”
The Collapse of Educational Commitment
For Zuroff, the fight has shifted from courtrooms to classrooms.
“We thought Holocaust education was a miracle drug against antisemitism. But it’s been universalized, de-Judaized. Suddenly anyone can be a Holocaust victim. And that’s simply not true.”
This erosion is no longer theoretical. Across parts of Western Europe, Holocaust remembrance is increasingly politicized—or avoided altogether. In Belgium, several schools declined to participate in International Holocaust Remembrance Day events following the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza. Memorial plaques for Holocaust victims were defaced with slogans about Gaza. Teachers report that students now equate Israeli actions with those of the Nazis. For Zuroff, this is more than historical ignorance—it is moral inversion.
“Within days of October 7,” he said, “the perpetrators became the victims, and the victims were framed as perpetrators. It’s absurd. And yet it’s happening in schools, in public discourse, on social media.”
Auschwitz and the Lessons Still Not Learned
Gil Segal, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization and head of its Department for Israel and Holocaust Commemoration Worldwide, shares that concern. Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Media Line while attending the March of the Living at Auschwitz—marking 80 years since the camp’s liberation—Segal warned that Holocaust education in Europe is slipping into the shadows.
“In Jewish schools, Holocaust memory is a pillar—it binds communities. But in national education systems? It’s being sidelined,” he said. “In many public school systems, Shoah education is now a secondary or even tertiary concern. The further we move from the event, the harder it becomes to keep it relevant.”
Segal emphasized that the World Zionist Organization works mainly with Jewish communities abroad, providing materials, support, and guidance. But he acknowledged that influencing broader national curricula is becoming increasingly difficult.
“Sadly, the State of Israel isn’t doing enough to change that. There is no national plan, no coordinated strategy, and certainly no budgeted priority,” he said.
He pointed to the Israeli Ministries of Diaspora Affairs and Education as key players that should be mobilized.
“This has to be a government-level effort. We need a coalition of institutions—Yad Vashem, the Jewish Agency, Diaspora organizations—working together to defend the truth. Otherwise, we are leaving the field open to distortion.”
Arab Silence, Denial, and a Crack in the Wall
If Europe is guilty of neglect, the Arab world, Zuroff says, is guilty of silence.
“There is no Holocaust education in Arab countries. None. No Jewish history either,” he declared. “They don’t deny the Holocaust outright. They just never learned about it. And now they chant slogans like ‘from the river to the sea’ without knowing which river or which sea.”
Segal sees diplomatic progress as a potential turning point.
“The Abraham Accords created a window,” he said. “We’re seeing symbolic participation in Yom HaShoah by communities in the Gulf and Morocco—but it’s not enough. There’s no structured effort to integrate Holocaust memory into national narratives. That should be a goal for Israel.”
He added that Israeli advocacy must become more proactive.
“We need to move from reaction to initiative. That means strategic diplomacy, regional education partnerships, and training for local educators. There’s potential—but it’s being wasted.”
Segal also warned of a growing trend in the Arab world of crafting alternate historical narratives.
“We’re seeing more denial, more revisionism, more conspiracies. It’s not just ignorance—it’s replacement,” Segal said. “And the longer we delay, the harder it will be to push back.”
From Memory to Oblivion?
Zuroff, who helped expose how post-Soviet states like Lithuania erased the convictions of Nazi collaborators after the fall of communism, emphasized that Holocaust distortion often masquerades as national rehabilitation.
“These countries say, ‘the Germans murdered our Jews,’ but they omit that it was often their neighbors who pulled the trigger. In Lithuania, fewer than 1,000 Germans were present. But over 90% of the Jewish population was murdered—mostly by Lithuanians.”
He continued:
“Now they build monuments saying ‘We tried to help the Jews.’ Total bull—-.”
When asked whether he is hopeful, Zuroff’s tone turned grim.
“No. I’m more concerned than ever. Our project is over. There are no more trials coming. All we have left is memory—and even that is under siege.”
He urged educators and institutions to act while there is still time.
“If we lose the accurate historical narrative, we lose everything. Because once history becomes negotiable, the past turns from a warning into a weapon.”
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