Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today

80 years ago today, Auschwitz was liberated. What a day that was, and I cannot imagine what the people who were liberated felt like. I have met several of them over my lifetime. At the National World War Two Museum’s Liberation Pavilion, they have collected video interviews of people who were liberated on that day.

The stories are haunting, but uplifting because of the newfound freedom that should never have been stolen from them. I knew Mark Rubin when he was alive. He was truly an amazing person. I loved listening and learning from him.

One time, we were chatting, and we were talking about using lawyers in deals. He said he rarely used them. “If I can’t trust you, why would I do a deal with you?” Mark was interviewed extensively about his experience. I am sure it was painful for him to talk about this stuff, but it was more important to him to have it on the record, searchable, for the next eons and eons of historians who could learn why the Holocaust happened and what actually went on.

On Liberation Day, Mark was a mere boy. At about four minutes into this clip, Mark relays a story about his Liberation Day that will make you smile. Smile through tears.

Today, there is a rampant rise of antisemitism that must be stomped out. We say “Never again”. But it will be “again” if we only pay lip service to it. Too many people talk the talk. That’s easy. Few walk the walk.

Before a recent Jerry Seinfeld show, antisemites showed up to disrupt people from entering. I wouldn’t call advocating for antisemitism a “peaceful protest”. This is not a one-off. It’s not unique. It’s becoming normalized, and we must stop it.

I also have good friends who were lucky enough to escape the Holocaust. Leo Melamed had survivor’s guilt for years because, as a boy, his father got him and his mother out of Bialystok, Poland, at the last minute. Leo went through several countries on his way to America. He revolutionized the entire futures industry in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was a leader with us in the cause when CME turned the whole financial world on its head and revolutionized worldwide finance.

I learned a lot from Leo. If you ever are fortunate enough to meet him, tell them there is a blue side to a trading card. That’s an inside joke.

Leo is 91 now. Imagine where the world would be if he had been murdered? Imagine how much better the world would be had 6 million not been murdered.

It’s a great day because it is Liberation Day. However, there is also sadness. Let’s not let their memory be in vain. We need Liberation Day every day.