Josef Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945, was one of the core architects of the final solution. Propaganda played a significant role during the Holocaust era. It facilitated the evil work of the Nazi regime toward the destruction of one-third of the global Jewish population. The power of deception was prevalent throughout that era but was probably at its apex during the staging of the Theresienstadt Ghetto into a self-ruled Jewish town to fool the visiting officials from the Red Cross. The extent to which the Nazis went to stage a positive environment was very sick.

Theresienstadt was in Czechoslovakia, which was invaded by the Nazis in 1939. Soon after, Reinhard Heydrich re-opened a fortress previously used as a prison and made it into the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Many locations across Greater Europe served as holding/transit camps for Jews on their way to deportation and extermination in the death camps. Theresienstadt was such a place. During its use, the Ghetto was populated with a total of over 140,000 Jews, of which 35,000 died within its walls from starvation or diseases. 88,000 were put on cattle cars to Auschwitz and other Death Camps.

As Hitler was moving Jews to their death like cattle, he realized that quite a few famous and/or influential Jews were inside that ghetto, and he decided to use the location to stage a Jewish-run village and fool the world. It was 1943, and the rumors about the Death Camps had risen to a level that could have crippled Hitler’s agenda, so he had to do something. To dispel the rumors, the ghetto was quickly overhauled; vegetable gardens were planted, a coffee shop, a bank, a playground, a library, and many other locations usually found in towns and villages were staged, in many cases, using the inmate’s property. Plays and concerts were organized, but why stop there? It was decided that a movie would be produced and distributed to the right people around Europe to show them that the Jews were very well treated by the Nazis and that there was nothing to fear.

German Jewish film director Kurt Gerron was forced to direct the propaganda movie titled “The Fürher Gives the Jews a City.” With most of the “forced actors” in that movie, he was sent to Auschwitz and gassed not long after he had finished the project. The movie was never officially released because the war ended, and the ghetto was liberated. The world realized how far the evil of deception was willing to go to hide the truth. What have we learned from such a tragic event?

I cannot help but make a parallel with the way Hamas is releasing hostages from Gaza. It has been almost 500 days since Hamas invaded Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and took over 200 hostages. It is unknown how many of the 90+ hostages still in Gaza are alive today, as just a few are being released sporadically by Hamas as part of a ceasefire. The price is high and THIS IS NOT a hostage deal, but a ransom for Israeli lives, because Israel values life so much more than Hamas. In the words of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, “When peace comes we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

The world knows how poorly Hamas has been treating the hostages because we know how they treat their very own people, but almost nothing is being mentioned. Will we ever know how many women were raped in captivity, how much torture the hostages had to go through, or what conditions they lived in?

While a few Israeli hostages are released at a time, many terrorists are released in exchange and are getting organized for their next attack. When Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released by the Palestinians in 2011 after 5 years in captivity, Israel exchanged him for over 1,000 terrorists. One of them was Yayah Sinwar, who was one of the architects of the October 7, 2023 terrorist pogrom. What have we learned from such a tragic event?

But it gets worse as we are witnessing how Hamas is releasing the hostages. They parade them on stages pretending that Hamas is still in control of the situation. Hamas officials wear brand new, clean uniforms as they film every detail of the release, pretending that they took very good care of the hostages. In a staging reminiscent of the evil propaganda that took place at Theresienstadt, hostages come out smiling, with lanyards around their necks, certificates, gift keychains and goody bags. They are even being filmed thanking their captors for such good treatment.

The world wasn’t fooled for long by the Theresienstadt farce as the war ended and stopped the propaganda movie from being released. Yet, it doesn’t look like we have learned much from it. Why are so many people ignoring the true motives of Hamas and letting them parade the released hostages like prizes? Is anybody buying the false veneer of humanitarian care displayed by Hamas? I certainly hope not!

We couldn’t trust any news coming out of Theresienstadt from the Nazis, and we shouldn’t trust any news coming out of Gaza from Hamas. It is ironic that the Hamas stage where the hostages are paraded, displays statements about “Nazi Zionism.” The role reversal continues, and a newer generation is being indoctrinated deeper into victimizing the perpetrators and demonizing the victims. Enough is enough!

Don’t be fooled by the mirage and fight for the truth! Seek the truth, believe the truth, live out the truth and teach the truth!

Olivier Melnick is an author, speaker, antisemitism expert, the Executive Director for Shalom in Messiah Ministries, and a Contributor to Harbinger’s Daily.