"40 Iranian Jews Make Exodus from Iran, Arrive in Israel to Escape Dangers" (December 25, 2007) tells how, and why, these Jews left Iran.
One of the covert emigrants "told all his friends where he was going, and they wanted to come along. 'I was scared in Iran as a Jew,' he said. 'I would never be able to wear a skullcap in the streets there.' Others said they felt safe in Iran, discounting warnings that Jews could become targets."
Seeing that headline was "like deja vu all over again" for me. In April of 1933, Chancellor Hitler and his colleagues defined what they meant by "non-Aryan," and what they intended to do about people who weren't part of the herrenvolk.
About three quarters of a century ago, intellectuals and Jews started leaving Germany, before the Nazi regime made life unpleasant and brief.
Today, some Jews are leaving Iran for about the same reason.
There are obvious differences between 1933 and 2007.
For starters, the leaders of Iran aren't Aryan. Actually, they are, but not the way the Nazis used the term.
On the other hand, then and now, nominally-democratic regimes with clearly-defined philosophies are removing people, and ideas, that their leaders don't like.
I'm seriously concerned.
1 Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). The quote, in context, is
"Asked by a Scot what Johnson thought of Scotland: 'That it is a very vile country, to be sure, Sir' 'Well, Sir! (replies the Scot, somewhat mortified), God made it.' Johnson: 'Certainly he did; but we must always remember that he made it for Scotchmen, and comparisons are odious, Mr. S------; but God made hell.' "Johnson's witticism has been paraphrased to refer to Texas, as well as other places and topics.
(Quotes on Scotland, The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page)
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