r/Judaism • u/justjust000 • Jan 20 '26

We're what's left 😄

Post image

Link to original Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQJ3AkViofr

1.7k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

192 comments sorted by

View all comments

143

u/Remarkable-Pea4889 Jan 20 '26

I wouldn't wear a shirt like this, but it's actually somewhat true. Research has shown that to survive the Holocaust people needed to be selfish rather than selfless.

85

u/njtalp46 Jan 20 '26

I know hard data is the best proof, but this rings true on an intuitive level. 

One anecdote: my grandfather survived because he was rebellious and hated shtetl life. I heard the story of him eating ham and getting punched in the face by his father. But that spirit also made him willing to hang out with Russian soldiers when they moved into town. The same Russian soldiers who liked him and offered him a lift (alone, no family) when they pulled out ahead of the German invasion. 8 immediate family died, he lived. 

I'd say that was pretty selfish of him. 

6

u/RedStripe77 Jan 22 '26

Good story. I would not call it selfish but self-preserving and resourceful. What smarts your grandfather had, making friends with people outside his community, who were stronger and better equipped, and willing to help him. Jews had almost no allies anywhere! How exceptional that he won those soldiers over! It was his ticket out of certain death. Was he wrong to seek escape? Would his family begrudge him? Objectively, he was the one who adapted to the desperate, inescapable situation that was coming, and thus survive. Who are we to judge whether he was good or bad or right or wrong? There was no elegant, perfect solution for anyone. There was no solution, period! Except “the final solution.” Good for him that he got out. Baruch ha-Shem.