In Cabaret, Herr Schultz, a Jewish owner of a fruit shop has his window smashed when a brick is thrown through it. He tries to minimize what others see as a determined Nazi attack on all Jews by saying,
They're just children. Mischievous children on their way to school.
But he was clearly wrong. The Nazis gained power and slowly began their programmes to exerminate Jews, gays, gypsies, etc.
Sadly, these "mischievous children" have many counterparts today. From the NYTimes Sunday Review,
Far-right ultranationalist groups are exploiting old enmities and new fears across the Continent. Although this is not the Europe of the 1930s, the disillusioned citizens of countries like Greece and Hungary have turned increasingly to simple answers, electing parties that blame familiar scapegoats — Jews, Gypsies, gays and foreigners — for their ills.
What’s at stake is the health of European democracy, and the values and institutions on which it rests. But while the euro crisis touched off a scramble to halt a financial meltdown, European leaders have done virtually nothing to reverse the union’s dangerous political trends.
These are not just mischievous children. These are racists, bigots, vandals, and killers. This time they must be stopped.
Addendum: I also intended to include a link to this article, which describes the rise of anti-semitism and neo-nazism in Hungary. Two items that stand out in Hungary are
- attempts to identify and label Jewish students at university.
- placing stickers on the doors of Jewish professors telling them "the university belongs to us, not the Jews."