The Blaze Documentary Films will be releasing a film called “Never Again Is Now,” a chilling documentary that draws the parallels between Nazi Germany and the current rise of anti-Semitism in Europe today.
The documentary was created by Evelyn Markus, and begins by focusing on her parents and other direct family members narrowly surviving the Holocaust. Her mother was on a train from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to a gas chamber in East Germany when the passengers were liberated by the United States. Her partner has a similar history.
Markus and her partner, Rosa Zeegers, are from the Netherlands, and they have become very disturbed at the growing anti-Semitism in the country to the point that it caused them to move to the U.S. In fact, on a recent visit to the Netherlands, the couple found Star of David graffiti on their door. As they point out in the movie, words and graffiti were the beginning of the Holocaust.
Markus and Zeegers noticed a change in the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Numerous Muslims in the country, many of whom immigrated from Islamic countries, hailed Osama bin Laden for orchestrating the attacks, and the group became increasingly volatile. The Holocaust itself ceased to be taught in schools as Muslims in class became hostile to the subject. Dutch author and filmmaker Theo van Gogh was assassinated by Mohamed Bouyeri, a member of the jihadist group Hofstad Network, five minutes from Markus’s house for criticizing Islam. Bouyeri stabbed a letter onto van Gogh’s chest; the letter accused Dutch politics of being “dominated by many Jews” and called for people “to plead with your Jewish masters in the chamber to reject the teachings of the Talmud.”
Zeegers describes how terrified she was was when she was walking outside in the Netherlands to go shopping. She saw a pro-Palestinian rally in which many Muslims chanted, “Hamas! Hamas! Jews to the gas!” as well as “Hamas! Jihad! Hezbollah!” Far-left Dutch politicians had joined the rally, and to her horror Zeegers saw her neighbors applauding the rally. Zeegers hid the Star of David she was wearing, and for the first time in her life she felt scared to publicly identify herself as a Jew.
Markus interviews various Jews, religious leaders, politicians as well as noted Islamist critics Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Dr. Qanta Ahmed. The interviews make clear that Jews cannot walk freely in the Netherlands–and throughout Europe–without being subject to calls of “Cancer Jew” or “Cancer Rat” as well as the threat of being assaulted, beaten or even murdered for simply being Jewish. One incident highlighted in the movie shows two Muslims beating two Holocaust survivors and saying to them, “Dirty Jews. Your property is ours.” Anti-Semitic incidents like that are on the rise in Europe.
“Hamas! Hamas! Jews to the gas!”
Muslims in the Netherlands
Another particularly chilling moment in the movie shows a pro-ISIS rally held in The Hague, the third largest city in Holland, where they were calling for the killing of Jews. And yet, the mayor of Hague, Jozias van Aartsen, said the rally was fine because it was considered free speech and “no boundaries were crossed.” That’s terrifying. It is also terrifying that a Dutch counterterrorism official tweeted, “ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It is a preconceived plan of Zionists who want to deliberately make Islam look bad.” That official was suspended, but there was nothing to suggest that she would be excluded from holding any government position in the Netherlands.
“Never Again Is Now” is truly one of the most important documentaries of the decade, as it provides the warning that if the anti-Semitism raging in Europe is left unchecked, a second Holocaust could very well occur, and that is why people need to fight back against it. The film features a great quote anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.”
The film will premiere on The Blaze TV at 8:00 pm EST on November 19.