Welcome to Moment‘s June 2022 Digital Edition, available only to digital subscribers. The focus for this issue is MEMORY.

Memories can inform us, trick us, charm us or terrorize us. Demagogues can misuse a nation’s memory for power, and painful memories can inhibit dialogue and growth. A memory can survive for generations in bodies, stories, and landscapes—or be snuffed out like a candle flame. A memory’s meaning and significance can change even within a lifetime.

As you read the stories below, take note of any memories that surface for you, and don’t forget to comment or reach out to us at editor@momentmag.com to share.

International

Victimhood in the Land of the Perpetrators

LIAM HOARE

The controversial Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation aims to initiate a conversation about forced migration in 20th-century Europe.

Opinions

Jewish Shepherds Wreak Havoc

BY LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN

Settler violence is not new, but the actions of the shepherding settlers have been chillingly flagrant and carried out with the tacit or overt approval of the Israeli government.

 

Not Your Grandfather’s Saudi Arabia

BY MARSHALL BREGER

If you had told me three years ago that I would be invited to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a “Forum on Common Values Among Religious Followers,” I would have asked you what you were smoking.

The Jewish Obligation to Ukraine

BY GERSHOM GORENBERG

Guilt is not heritable. Sin, in the Jewish view, cannot stain you at birth. What matters about people fleeing the war isn’t their great-grandparents. It is that they are people needing safety.

 

Special Feature

The Wisdom Project | Dieter Gruen

MOMENT

Dr. Dieter Gruen, 99, shares the impact of growing up in Nazi Germany, his memories working for the Manhattan Project, his views on space colonization, and what he views as humanity’s biggest challenge today.

Memoir

Certify Me Normal

BY MIRIAM DAVIS

Literary Moment

The Evolution of Tyranny

BY ROBERT SIEGEL

For advocates of democratic government, the 20th century concluded on a triumphant note. Today that note is a distant, barely audible signal from a bygone era. These two books attack the rise of autocracy from different angles.