George RusznakMini Series Pt. 2:“Hate”

A few months ago, I had the honor of interviewing George Rusznak. George is many things: husband, father, businessman, and he’s also a holocaust survivor. Throughout our interview, three main themes emerged: fear, hate, and hope. In this three-part mini essay series, I plan to explore each of these through the lens of George’s story in contrast with what we as a Jewish community are facing today, continuing in part two with hate.

Hate is an interesting emotion to grapple with. I think sometimes people use the word “hate” when they’re experiencing big and strong negative emotions that they don’t necessarily have a word for at the moment. Hate is one of those words that rolls off the tongue so easily, but we don’t always take the time to really process what it means. The interesting thing about hate is it’s much more damaging to the person feeling it than whatever it’s directed at. This is one of the many lessons I took away from my conversation with George.

After the war came to a close, many Jewish families tried to return to the homes they previously owned. However, when George and his family tried to go back to their apartment, they found a Hungarian couple who were given their home because of their membership in the Arrow Cross Party, the Hungarian equivalent of the German Nazi Party. It’s important to note that the members of the Arrow Cross were the willing instruments of the Nazis in the implementation of the Final Solution in Hungary. Of course, this living arrangement was extremely tense and uncomfortable. 

This would be a lot for anyone to process, let alone a little boy. Imagine the one place you’re supposed to be the safest, and having to share it with people who played a role in a mass genocide of your people.  

I asked George if he hated having these people in his home. If he hated the presence of anyone who could’ve even played a slight role in what happened to the Jewish people. He told me one day, frustrated by their presence in his home, he was talking to his mother about it and he said “Mom I just hate them”.

George was only six years old at the time, so he has little memory of this conversation with his mom. However, years later as a teenager, the two discussed it again and George’s mom reminded him of what she said. 

She told him that hate will slowly kill you. Having hatred inside you we’ll eat away at you until there’s nothing left. Hate is what will destroy you faster than any other person can. For you’re only hurting yourself by hating them. 

George noted that his “own ideas about hate and how to process that emotion came much later in life when I was trying to learn and comprehend what made human beings inhumane toward others”. 

This aspect of my conversation with George made me think a lot about hate and the role it plays in my life. I think hate is such an easy but destructive emotion to let ourselves fall into. It’s so natural to want to hate the people who have hurt us, to hate the fact that our history is filled with bloodshed and tragedy. It makes so much sense that hate would come so naturally, but it’s the strength that’s required to push back against hate that makes us who we are. 

For us today at UCSB, I see so much hate seeping into the cracks of our Jewish community. Hatred for what happened last year on campus, hatred for the discrimination we have to face from our peers, and hatred for watching so much of the world slowly turn against us once again. But as George’s mother said, harboring hate does damage to no one but yourself. 

Immensely easier said than done, but we as a community and as a people have overcome time and time again throughout our entire history. Something as futile as hate will not be what destroys us and it’s within our power to not let it control who we are.