Fascism says what you and I experience as facts or what reporters experience as facts are irrelevant. All that matters are impressions and emotions and myths.
Timothy D. SnyderRead
Maybe I am naive, but I don't think talking about the Holocaust with total and complete cynicism is possible for Israeli politicians. It's inevitable that the Holocaust is part of Israeli politics.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the intertwining of historical trauma with present-day politics.
Timothy D. Snyder emphasizes the profound impact of the Holocaust on Israeli politics, suggesting that any discussion about it cannot be approached with complete detachment or cynicism. This sentiment illustrates how historical events can shape political narratives and ideologies, particularly in a context where such events have deeply affected the collective identity and memory of a people.
Themes
HolocaustPoliticsIsraelHistoryCynicism
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the importance of historical memory, this quote can help illustrate the consequences of political detachment from historical events.
More from Timothy D. Snyder
All quotes →Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of 'our institutions' unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.
Timothy D. SnyderRead
Brittle masculinity, in the right setting, becomes political atrocity. Strength brings problems; weakness brings others, but weakness posing as strength is the most dangerous of all.
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If we don't have access to facts, we can't trust each other. Without trust, there's no law. Without law, there's no democracy.
Timothy D. SnyderRead
Totalitarianism is not about some state that appears out of nowhere and suddenly is all-powerful. There can't be any such thing. Totalitarianism starts when the difference between your public life and your private life is effaced.
Timothy D. SnyderRead
The 20th century shows that the form of government that we take for granted, a constitutional democratic republic with checks and balances and a rule of law - that form of government is usually temporary.
Timothy D. SnyderRead
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