Holocaust Survivor Ella Blumenthal writes open letter to Simone Kriel in response to her antisemitic posts

Dear Simone,

I was so saddened to hear your comments.
Saddened, because I was about your age in 1945 when I was liberated from that pit of hell they called Bergen Belsen.
I had lost everything that I had ever had. I had lost almost everyone that I had ever loved..
I, like millions of others, had fallen victim to the vicious propaganda machine the Nazis relied on to advance their evil agenda.
Today they call propaganda “fake news" but it is the same thing.
And it is no less virulent or dangerous.
Simone, the link you saw was fake news.
It was a lie.
I know this because I lived the truth and I have carried it with me, in my heart, for more than 7 decades.
You see Simone, you can never forget what I saw, what I endured and what I survived.
I am sad because like me, you too were a victim of lies that seek to breed hatred and disgust .Lies that seek to divide us and make us fearful of one another.
And I am also angry. Not at you, but at those who still seek to make others the victims of their own fear.
Simone, I am 98 years old. And if I have learnt one thing, it is that to live as a victim of fear, is to live in pain.
I do not wish this on you anymore than I wish it on myself.

I would love to meet with you when circumstances permit.
Maybe I will tell you my story, and you will tell me yours.
I know we will learn that far more unites us, than divides us.
And maybe together, Simone, we will find a way to shine light into our fractured world.

I send you my love,

Ella Blumenthal.

Recent Articles

ADL Conference #NeverIsNow

Over the past few days our National Director Wendy Kahn along with Adam Charnas and Simone Sulcas participated in this year’s @adl_national conference #NeverIsNow. Wendy Kahn represented the South African Jewish Community in a high level discussion with her counterparts from around the world. She has been among speakers such as Gal Gadot, David Schiller, Montana Tucker, Sheikh Moafaq Tarif, @capesajbd Jonathan Greenblatt, each sharing their insights into ways to combat the hate that surrounds us. The conference has united world Jewish leadership in the fight against Antisemitism.