Nazi Germany survivor reacts to Hamas attack, surge in antisemitism: This is exactly what happened in 1938
Anti-Israel protests have erupted across the US amid the Israel-Hamas war
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Israel remains caught in an escalating war, garnering international attention and sparking outrage from both Israeli and Palestinian supporters since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.
While the Biden administration has condemned the actions from Hamas and maintained U.S. support for Israel, pro-Hamas protests have erupted across the nation.
One survivor of Nazi Germany spoke out about the recent surge in antisemitic rhetoric and activity Saturday on "FOX & Friends Weekend," warning antisemitism is "getting worse" in countries like the United States.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ganz said what happened on Oct. 7 shares similarities with Nazi Germany.
"It really upset me when I saw on Oct. 7, what they did as far as the people that died and also the buildings that were then destroyed," he told co-host Pete Hegseth. "This is exactly the same thing that happened in Germany in 1938."
A group of people stand outside a Jewish-owned shop in an unnamed German town in November 1938, after the Kristallnacht. (AP Photos) ((AP Photos))
Ganz wasn't yet a teenager when he escaped Nazi Germany, but before he left, he witnessed Kristallnacht, the two-day pogrom in November 1938.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"When I came home from the school on Nov. 9, my mother was waiting for me at the train station... which was not the usual. I usually walked a short distance back home from the train station," Ganz said. "She had a banana with her, which was strange also. She gave me the banana so that I would not be terrified of what I was going to see."
"As we walked home, I saw glass on the street and in our front yard. All of our windows were broken, and as I walked inside the house, I saw that the Nazi youth, the Hitler Youth and the Nazi youth, with a hatchet tore up all of our sofas, our chairs, smashed the pictures on the walls and did a lot of damage downstairs. Upstairs in our bedrooms, our bedrooms were heated by coal-fired, burning ovens. These were ripped from the foundation and thrown on to the beds. I'll never forget that sight as long as I live."
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTORS BLAME ISRAEL FOR HAMAS TERROR ATTACK IN ‘REPUGNANT’ DEMONSTRATIONS
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ganz's father had already fled Germany prior to the Night of Broken Glass after a sponsor funded his journey to the United States.
"My grandmother, one of the smartest women, she saw what was coming after Hitler was nominated in 1933. Antisemitism was getting worse by the day, and she saw that we had to get out of Germany, but the big problem was, where could we move to? It was very difficult to come into the United States because you had to have a sponsor. The sponsor had to put money into the bank so that you would not be a burden to the state, and this sponsor only had enough funds for one person, and it was decided that my father should leave. Thank God he did."
Eventually Ganz and the rest of his family were able to join his father in the United States.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ganz said Hamas' attack on Israel reminded him of the atrocities from the Night of Broken Glass.
"Kristallnacht, that night, the Gestapo — the Nazis — destroyed all of the Jewish-owned stores. They broke the windows in the stores. They stole all the merchandise, and then they set the stores on fire throughout Germany," he said. "It was a difficult, difficult evening."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel in October, striking hundreds of civilians at the Tribe of Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im.
Dozens of Hamas militants who had blown through Israel’s heavily fortified separation fence and crossed into the country from Gaza opened fire on about 3,500 young Israelis who had come together for a night of electronic music to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Many of the terrorists, video showed, came in trucks and on motorcycles, wore tactical gear and brandished AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The attack left more than 260 Israelis dead, according to an Israeli rescue organization.
Israeli military numbers estimated on Thursday that more than 1,200 people were killed in the mass terrorist attack, the majority of them civilians, FOX News Digital previously reported.
On Kibbutz Be’eri, a community of roughly 1,000 a few miles from Kibbutz Urim, more than 100 bodies were reportedly recovered by rescue agencies this week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JEWISH AMERICANS ON EDGE AMID GROWING ANTI-ISRAEL HOSTILITY: ‘COORDINATED EFFORT’
On Kibbutz Kfar Aza, there were reports of 120-plus bodies, including children, being discovered.
At least 5,700 people have been killed in the war on both sides, including at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 32 Americans, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. The ministry claimed at least 4,385 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank and more than 13,500 wounded.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}At least 10 Americans are believed to be held captive by Hamas.
"[Antisemitic viewpoints] still exist and it's getting worse in this country also." — Nazi Germany survivor Erwin Ganz
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"The thread line from the Gestapo to Hamas is clear and is something the Jewish people have had to fight back against and will continue to, and you're a living testament to it," Hegseth said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media.
FOX News Digital's Peter Aitken, Chris Pandolfo, Landon Mion, Adam Sabes, Lawrence Richard, Ruth Marks Eglash and Greg Norman contributed to this report.