Who is to blame for school play anti-Semitism?

Maurice Skikne, Johannesburg

As a Jew in my 80s, having lived in South Africa all my life, I have experienced similar anti-Semitic incidents from my youth and I feel the pain. Somehow, I thought that this type of behaviour and action had now settled, largely through the Holocaust and accounts by survivors of that horrific period of man’s history.

But no, this will reign on and on! For this I blame not the children, but the Christocentric church movements and the parents of those children. Somehow the message of the teachings of many of their leaders, to behave as true Christians has not penetrated their abysmal minds.

Whatever have my people done to such persons to teach their offspring such despicable behaviour? The plot of the play (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) should have sent a different message to the audience, children actors and even parents – and even teachers!

But no, the behaviour of all these chanters is absolutely not tenable. If the principals of each school involved do not have the gumption to find out who stimulated such behaviour and correct such acts, they should be held accountable.

One would have thought the new dispensation in South Africa would have tempered such acts. It seems that such hatred lurks below the surface of those churches and in adults’ minds!