Holocaust survivor understands why atrocities in Ukraine are being compared to the Holocaust

The atrocities in Ukraine are now being compared to the horrors of the Holocaust. The mayor of Mariupol, Ukraine, drew the comparison while alleging Ukrainians were being taken into Russia against their will. The Ukrainian president repeated the sentiment in his speech to Israel.

There are bombings, bodies on the ground, babies bloodied, and some even killed. As violent as the images coming out of Ukraine are, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday the Kremlin’s words are just as vile.

“When the Nazis invaded Europe, they wanted to leave nothing of us and you, no name and any traces, they called it the ‘final solution’ of the Jewish question. You should hear what is coming from Moscow now. They are saying the same words now. ‘Final solution,’ but this time it’s about us, about the Ukrainian question,” said Zelenskyy.

Rosette Gerbosi is a holocaust survivor. Her parents were murdered in Auschwitz in the Nazi’s quest for their final solution. To hear that phrase again, “I get the shivers. I get shivers down my spine,” said Gerbosi.

Gerbosi said there are differences between what’s happening in Ukraine and what happened in Europe in the 30s and 40s, but there are also parallels, like families being torn apart just like her’s.

“My heart breaks for them. I remember when I had to leave my mother,” said Gerbosi. “I cry my eyes out because I see these little babies being hurt being bombed? Why do they have to bomb these shelters? Why do they have to bomb these hospitals? Maternity wards? What is the point of this? It’s just killing humanity. It’s inhumane. We have to do something to stop this mad man, the same as we had to stop Hitler.”

There are others parallels between the Holocaust and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There are people who are helping and hiding people from the Russian attack, just as Gerbosi was helped and hidden as a 10-year-old girl.

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