Oy vey........(deep and unpleasant topic, just a warning)

[gimmethesimplelife]

When I checked my email this morning, there were a series of distressful emails waiting for me from my Cousin Astrid in Vienna. Due to the nature of these emails I was blown out to sea and so called Austria. Turns out that my cousin's daughter, a bright and very pretty young lady on the verge of adulthood - has gotten mixed up with some radical far right anti semetic group supposedly based out of Linz - the only truly ugly, in more ways than one, city in Austria.

Kimberly is her name and she has made statements such as All Jews are evil and that the Holocaust was fiction just like the Americans landing on the moon (first time I've ever seen or heard of these events being comparable in any way shape or form). Astrid reached out to me as she understands that as a gay man I have been exposed to discrimination and the dark side of human nature. Here I am totally stumped - I'm not sure what I would do going forward any more than she is.

For anyone who is not turned off by this gory topic - what would you do? What would you say? I am utterly floored that all these years later this hatred is being recycled and that a very bright young woman would be swept up in hatred such as this.

Gotta say I am glad I am off today and that work has only called me once to get details of a situation in the store last night. I could work but I really need to take some alone time and process this - so so so thankful that SO is the kind man he is and will be supportive when he gets home (he found work again, so there is something positive).

My big question here, beyond how to handle such a situation, is this - Does the human race really ever learn anything? At the moment I'd say not much.....Rob

[ApatheticNoMore]

My ancestors warned me about how anti-semitic Austria was, worse than Germany even ... but that was long long long ago.

I suppose you can just tell your story as a gay man and prejudice you have faced and how you have dealt with it etc.. But you are very far away in America and can probably have minimal influence compared to the cult. Because I think a lot of what is going on (I don't know exactly what is going on in Austria) is just basically a type of cult brainwashing, and then the question is really how to get people out of cults. Because this stuff is cults (I mean the moon landings are fake? ok I guess a harmless belief in itself, but this is pure cult brainwashing). But it's *HARD* to get people out of cults!! Granted she's young and still finding her way so it could just be a phase, and we all did pretty stupid things when we were that young, some largely just rebellious, though stupid wasn't for most of us becoming Nazis.

[bae]

Dreadful.

I've had several relatives and friends get radicalized to various extreme positions over the past few years.

I'm not sure there's much that can be done once that happens.

[happystuff]

My first impulse is to tell her (truth or not) that from a couple of generations back in her family - she is Jewish, and then ask her what the group she is part of would think of her/do to her if they ever found out. If she really is that bright of a young woman, it should definitely give her some food for thought.

[sweetana3]

These groups and other hate groups have existed as long as humans have been around. I was brought up in 50's America very sheltered and was so surprised to find out about such groups. Education showed me that they were not unusual. Sad though. I consider the groups very similar to cults and they use similar tactics to bring in and keep new members. You might suggest they do some research on cults and how to help those who are sucked into them. Does not matter if religious, political or....

[iris lilies]

My first impulse is to tell her (truth or not) that from a couple of generations back in her family - she is Jewish, and then ask her what the group she is part of would think of her/do to her if they ever found out. If she really is that bright of a young woman, it should definitely give her some food for thought.
I know that you said first impulse, but it’s not a good idea to lie to someone in this situation unless there’s some truth in it. And maybe it wouldn’t be hard to find an Austrian relative with Jewish background, who knows.

besides, we don’t know what purity blood requirements this Austrian group has. They might be OK with someone of tainted blood seeing the light.

[happystuff]

I know that you said first impulse, but it’s not a good idea to lie to someone in this situation unless there’s some truth in it. And maybe it wouldn’t be hard to find an Austrian relative with Jewish background, who knows.

besides, we don’t know what purity blood requirements this Austrian group has. They might be OK with someone of tainted blood seeing the light.

I know it's not good to lie, even though this group is apparently doing their share of it ("the Holocaust was fiction"). Sigh... such hatred is so sad.

[ToomuchStuff]

Get her a train ticket to Buchenwald.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Get her a train ticket to Buchenwald.Your post made me think of something - Kimberly has been to the Mauthausen Memorial before where the Mauthausen Concentration Camp stood in WW2 - just 20 KM from Linz where where apparently these extremists (only civil word I could come up with) are based. I know because Astrid made sure to drop it in conversation a few years ago as she knows how I feel about this topic.

My point here is that Kimberly has BEEN to the remains of one of these horrible camps and yet still denies the Holocaust? Ay carumba, I just don't understand this level of denial. I really don't. Were I to be soon in Austria, shoot, I'd even go with her there - it's not a long train ride from Vienna to Linz and then there are buses that will take you to Mauthausen from Linz.

But yeah - your idea is valid in my book. Rob

[sweetana3]

If she has been convinced to join in any cult, almost nothing you can say or do or show her will not change her BELIEF. There is a lot of good info from those who have dealt with such beliefs. Here is a good article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-mind/202104/the-definitive-guide-helping-people-trapped-in-cult

[saguaro]

I know that you said first impulse, but it’s not a good idea to lie to someone in this situation unless there’s some truth in it. And maybe it wouldn’t be hard to find an Austrian relative with Jewish background, who knows.

Have to agree that's not something to tell unless there is some verifiable truth to it. Even then, it might not be believed.

Regarding it's not hard to find Austrians with Jewish background that is probably true, DH is of Austrian descent on his maternal grandparents side and it seems some of them were Jewish as well.