AN AMERICAN JEW SEARCHES FOR HIS PAST AND FINDS THE PRESENT

I recently signed up for Ancestry.com. The commercials are really appealing. I too wanted to find out that my distant Great Uncle on my father’s side was a general in the War of the Roses. Or that my Great, Great, Grandfather was an advisor to the King of England. Or that I was somehow related to Alexander the Great. It all seemed so romantic and intriguing. I wanted to find the hero in my past; the hero whose DNA I shared.

So, in addition to spitting into the tube and having my DNA analyzed, I signed up for the subscription based service in order to have my roots traced back into my undiscovered history. Within a few weeks I got the results of my DNA test back: I am 100% European Jewish. Not 90% or 98% but 100%; leaving no room for doubt about at least the region of the world that I come from. While this shocked and surprised exactly no one, I eagerly anticipated the results of the Ancestry search. Europe is a pretty big place so anything was possible. I couldn’t wait to find out all the interesting and exciting things about my lineage. Who my hero was.

Here is what I found out: Nothing. There was nothing there. Nothing. Once you got passed my grandparents, who all came to this country as young men and women, there was nothing. No connections to villages in Russia. No ancestors who worked for kings. No distant relatives who fought in the War of the Roses. No heroes. Nothing. Was there something wrong with my DNA? With me? Was there some reason that I connected to no one in the past?

And then I remembered why. And it does relate to my DNA. And it all makes so much sense. You see, if your DNA is 100% European Jewish there is not much left for you to look for in the past. Everyone that stayed behind was killed. All of them. All gassed or shot or starved to death in a Concentration Camp. All stores and business, destroyed. All family possessions, stolen or burned. All traces of my family wiped out. There is no one there. There is nothing left. No records even. All of it, destroyed. All of the lives and history and possessions of my family consumed by the sickness that took over during the rise of Hitler and Fascism. All crushed because masses of otherwise sane people followed one man. Allowed one man through his irrational rantings and wild conspiracy theories to alter their view of the world. All burnt to the ground because followers and enablers, men in positions of power, put their own ambitions and quest for power ahead of human life and stood by while six million people, including member of my family were killed. People whose DNA I share, murdered. One man and a cult of followers that carried out his sick and demented agenda. One man whose words could stir up such passion and anger and fury in people that they would carry out the worst and most heinous acts against humanity that man has ever known. One man.

So when I watched in stunned amazement, the attack on the Capitol building last week and saw, not just the ugly tee shirts with Nazi and anti-Semitic references on them but the anger and fury in the eyes of the criminals that forced their way into the building, I could not help but think that what happened in Europe under Hitler was starting to happen here. That one man could create such a cult of personality that he could motivate a crowd to riot, to destroy and sadly to kill. One man who was aided and abetted by enablers, who, like their German counterparts, put their own ambitions and quest for power ahead of human life. One man whose irrational rantings, lies and wild conspiracy theories could turn otherwise sane people into an angry crowd of maniacs looking to destroy the seat of democracy. Looking to kidnap and kill. Looking to loot and burn. One man whose words could stir up such passion and anger and fury in people that they would carry out heinous and terrifying acts. One man.

Sadly, the storming of the Capitol building last week was not an isolated event. While it was the largest attack against America that we have seen, it was not the first. There was Charlottesville and Pittsburgh and San Diego, to name a few. Gatherings where Jews were targeted and murdered by white men spurred on by the rantings of one man. Even sadder, the attack on the Capitol will not be the last of these, even after this one man is out of office. He has unleashed the worst of us, and it will take a generation to repair.

My search for the hero in my past ended at the water’s edge. When my grandparents came to America as teenagers, they came here because their parents knew that Europe was changing. That America offered a better life for them. A place where they could be free to be whatever they wanted to be. A place where they didn’t have to fear for their lives because of their DNA. A place where truth mattered. A country of laws. A place where they could be safe and that their children and their children’s children could leave in peace. There is nothing for me to find in Europe. It is all here now. The hero in my life must now be me. I must be the one — along with many others — to not let America become Europe under Hitler. My DNA is here and here it will stay.

My search for my past led me to the present. I will not let the past repeat itself.