Actress and filmmaker Soni Razdan, also Alia Bhatt’s mother, recently shared an emotional message on Instagram. Her words came in response to the current crisis in Palestine. And, she opened up about her own family’s painful history to highlight the importance of speaking out during dark times.
Soni spoke about her maternal grandfather, a German man who stood up against Adolf Hitler during World War II. She revealed that he ran an underground newspaper in Nazi Germany that spoke out against Hitler’s regime.
His bravery came at a terrible cost. He was caught, arrested, and sent to a concentration camp, where he witnessed unimaginable horrors. Though they eventually released him because of his German nationality, he was banned from ever returning to his homeland.
Soni’s message came after a video she recently saw of Jewish-Australian actress Miriam Margolyes. In it, Margolyes says, “Hitler won because he made the Jews like him.” Moved by that quote, Soni called it “the saddest thing” she had read in a long time, saying it was “a terrifying indictment.”
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She then made comparison. Referring to the situation in Gaza, Soni wrote that the same community her grandfather risked everything to protect is now, in her view, causing suffering to others. “I’m glad my grandfather is no longer alive to witness this. It would have broken him,” she wrote.
She continued, “He had the courage to stand up to a tyrant, and now the people he tried to save have become the oppressors.”
Soni also made it clear that not everyone is the same. She acknowledged that many Jewish people around the world are against the violence in Gaza, just like there were Germans who opposed Hitler. But she said very few had the kind of bravery her grandfather showed, by taking action at a time when it was dangerous to do so.