The Other Mr. Fish on Holocaust Omens
I barely escaped the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with my life. Many other young people like my campmate Anne Frank did not. My sister, Ann, survived the typhus that killed the more famous Anne but forever carried its weakening effects. They had been the same age. My mother, Lea, suffered for the remainder of her life from carrying the Nazis’ heavy iron vats to score an extra crust of bread for me. My father, Herschel, survived Buchenwald, but the rest of his family perished at Auschwitz.
And we were the lucky ones. Lucky enough to come to America and send some of our children to the University of Pennsylvania in our backyard. Which brings me to my problem.
I have paid close attention to antisemitism since the Holocaust. For many years, my confidence grew that we had finally turned a corner and that mortal threats were behind us. I could not have been more wrong.
What finally awakened me were the antisemitic political cartoons of one “Mr. Fish,” which happens to be my name. I endowed The Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University. “Mr. Fish” is the pen name of an Annenberg School of Communication professor. It turns out that America’s leading school of communication and journalism has a professor who is the creator of rabidly antisemitic cartoons. Some of them blame Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. Others replace the Star of David with a swastika.
Among “Mr. Fish’s” posts are real images of Jews in concentration camps. As someone who appeared in such photos taken by Bergen-Belsen’s British liberators in 1945, I do not view “Mr. Fish” as a just a cartoon looking to raise awareness. After all, his creator has no quarrel with Hamas. The point is not that we are witnessing Nazis marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. No, it’s what came before Hitler’s marches, something more frightening: the slow indoctrination of educators in search of a principle to justify what they really want to do: harm, and in some cases, eliminate Jews.
The Holocaust was carried out not by Neanderthals, but by Europe’s elite. Before the concentration camps were built to kill Jews, the universities expelled them. Our worry must begin when the risks to antisemites vanish. Indeed, would a professor at one of the nation’s most prestigious schools feel confident enough to publish cartoons about certain other minorities? We know the answer.
Medical professionals and university professors are openly disparaging Jews with little fear of consequences. I was particularly disturbed by the public pro-Hamas expressions of a nurse from a children’s hospital in Cincinnati. One wonders how she would treat a Jewish patient. Evidently, the hospital perceives no liability. As the owner of nursing homes, I can tell you how I would feel — and what I would do — about an employee dehumanizing a vulnerable group.
A Veteran’s Affairs official mocked Israeli victims of Hamas on Instagram. Her punishment? She must watch a slide show about sensitivity. Do Jewish war veterans know who isn’t looking out for them? Right now, none of this is a big deal. It wasn’t a big deal in pre-war Europe either. Until it was.
The Gaza war is only the latest socially acceptable hook on which to hang Jew-hatred. Past pogroms and the Holocaust were always anchored in the libel that Jewish actions posed a clear and present danger to the majority. In other words, the genocides were not mass murder, they were self-defense! What’s more, Jewish attempts at defense have always been met with outrage: See how violent these people are?!
This is how it happens, the baby steps toward violence. Cultured institutions are influenced by multi-billion-dollar campaigns that wrap up genocidal impulses in ancient stereotypes. Redefining language is at the core of this strategy. “Genocide” now means aggressive counterattack. “Apartheid” means that people who consistently reject peace offerings are treated worse than they should be. “Cease-fire” means that the stronger army must let their enemies regroup. With this project, there is no such thing as antisemitism, just legitimate contempt for a troublesome people that have it coming.
I know the argument that one need not be antisemitic just because they criticize Israel. This is a red herring because these pacifists express no outrage about what Muslims have been doing to other Muslims, including Palestinians, for decades. Only one homeland conflict consumes the wrath of the news media and academia — the one funded with untold billions: the undoubtedly tragic “Palestinian question.”
Where the Nazis cloaked their victimhood in an avenging “master race,” “Mr. Fish” and his comrades cloak theirs in humanity. But if you scratch the surface, you will find bloodlust. Some radical feminists, who once declared all women must be believed when alleging sexual assault, have decided that Israeli women who Hamas mass-raped to death are fairy tales.
Those who would attend Penn or Annenberg must be made aware of the kind of “communications” that are being bred there, so let’s get it out in the open. I hope the Annenberg school — endowed by a Jew — thinks long and hard about what they are promoting under the banner of tolerance. May
“Mr. Fish” became a celebrity, preferably with a different name. Perhaps he’ll become Penn’s mascot. Let’s put the slogans to the test: “This is about Israeli policy, not Jews” and “My closest friends are Jewish — and they agree with me!”
I watched the former president of Penn (and Harvard and MIT) testify before Congress. Let us take them at their word: Threatening genocide against Jews violates no code. Hamas has been clear about its intention to kill Jews and erase Israel. We should take them at their word, too.
“Mr. Fish” is the face of what is coming. And he will come disguised as a pacifist with pleading, tearful eyes. After nine decades of life, I feel the echoes of pre-war Europe in my heart because this Mr. Fish climbed over the stacked bodies at the other end of the propaganda that led up to it.
Emil Fish is a Holocaust survivor from the small town of Bardejov, Slovakia. In 2009, Mr. Fish was appointed by President Obama to the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, on which he still serves.
