I have been twice to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam and both times been deeply moved. It was hard not to be angry at the sheer absurdity and wickedness of Nazi ideology, though I preferred to depart with sadness. Having studied this part of world history in some depth, I was never short of context for what occurred, but knowing more about what happened and why it happened is not necessarily helpful when confronted by old photographs, family heirlooms, letters and diary entries. Those, and the empty spaces where once a family hid.

I had thought that the Holocaust that occurred during WW2 would unlikely be forgotten, taking a place in deep memory alongside huge historical events such as famous battles, incidents and people. It is a different kind of memory for sure, for its is hard to explain in any rational way and is unendingly grim in nature.

But I think maybe I am wrong, for only a couple of generations from the event and its consequences, the re-emergence of antisemitism is a real thing in many parts of the world. I won't catalogue the examples that I have read about. In one way I am not so surprised for, even if we look at the emergence of Israel in terms of what occurred 80 years ago, there has always been a legacy of hatred towards Jewish people. It's a very old thing indeed and its has taken a war against Hamas to bring it back to the boil. Never mind what you think about the current Israeli Government (and I take great umbrage at it), antisemitism has deep historical roots that may never be expunged.

I was wondering why was getting so many Anne Frank posts on my FB page. Perhaps it just a reminder that we need to heed the lessons of the past, lest we stumble into the same ones again in the future.

I am pessimistic about this though. Learning history is not what it was and too many people are ignorant of the facts. The internet buzzes with mindless nonsense. What's to be done?