History repeats itself — so the saying goes. It’s a warning meant to steer us away from the world’s darkest chapters. But what happens when those warnings go unheeded? When survivors begin to see the same horrors they faced be inflicted onto others decades later?
In this conversation, Mehdi sits down with Stephen Kapos – an 88-year-old British-Hungarian Holocaust survivor, who was forced to go into hiding at the age of seven, was separated from his mother and father, lost 15 members of his family to the Nazi concentration camps, and witnessed the total destruction of cities during the war. Today, Kapos has become one of the most vocal pro-Palestinian voices among Jewish Holocaust survivors.“What I saw then was a by-product of two armies fighting, and what I see in Gaza is deliberate destruction. It’s even worse,” Kapos says, comparing the scenes of rubble and dead bodies in 1944 and now. He also reflects on his trip to Israel in the 1960s and what he was shocked to find even back then.
Mehdi also asks Kapos about those who have cited similarities between Donald Trump’s fascistic leadership in the US and Nazi Germany in the 1920s and 30s. Kapos says it’s “absolutely” a fair comparison.
Watch the full interview where the two discuss Kapos’ experience as a Jewish, pro-Palestine activist, his rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, and why he will continue to fight for the children of Gaza.
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