Dwight Eisenhower, the former president of Columbia, cautioned that the atrocities committed against Jews during WWII would be forgotten by the world.

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s career achievements are unparalleled in American history.

The president who led the D-Day invasion, helped reclaim postwar peace, launched NASA into orbit, and sent America rolling down the interstate highway system was the Supreme Allied Commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II.

Ronald Reagan was mentored by me on national security and running for higher office.

Ike also served for five years as president of Columbia University.

Despite the turmoil and upheaval on that campus in April 2024, it is almost inconceivable that a four-star general of his stature would be leading that esteemed institution of higher education today.

He was appointed to the top position at an elite Ivy League university in New York City in May 1948 and resigned from it after winning the presidency and moving into the White House in January 1953.

In the year he became Columbia's president, Eisenhower stated that the primary objective of education is to equip students for a fulfilling personal and social life in a free society. Columbia emphasized that general education for citizenship should be the common and first priority for all schools, from the crossroads to the greatest universities.

He pledged to preserve the memory of the horrors he witnessed at the Ohrdruf concentration camp in Germany in April 1945, which he saw as a lasting legacy.

Eisenhower wrote to Marshall, "The things I saw were beyond description."

"The overwhelming evidence of starvation, cruelty, and bestiality, through both visual and verbal testimony, left me feeling nauseated."

The victims were primarily Jews, who were initially dehumanized by Adolf Hitler's far-left National Socialist German Workers Party and then subjected to a systematic extermination on an industrial scale.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Ike's arrival at Ohrdruf was marked by bodies being stacked like wood and living skeletons fighting to stay alive.

Eisenhower instinctively knew that the atrocities defied belief — and therefore needed proof.

"The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick."

In his message to Gen. Marshall, he pledged to provide concrete evidence of these claims if there is ever a suspicion that they were fabricated for propaganda purposes in the future.

Approximately 6 million Jews, which is one third of the global Jewish population, were murdered by the National Socialists during the Holocaust.

Millions of other people were systemically killed, too.

In response to Eisenhower's urgent plea, Congress members and journalists rushed to Ohdruf and other death camps, which were discovered by the Allies as they advanced through Germany towards the end of World War II.

The Holocaust Museum notes that he invited the media to document the scene and forced Germans living in the surrounding towns and any soldier not fighting at the front to witness the atrocities for themselves.

Eisenhower predicted that the Holocaust might be denied in the future.

Today is the day on the campus of Columbia University, where Eisenhower studied.

‘By any means necessary’

This week, anti-Israeli student groups seized control of the Columbia quad while President Minouche Shafik was in Congress, testifying about the prevalence of antisemitism on her campus.

Columbia, and other schools around the nation, as well as city streets, have been overtaken by calls for Israel’s destruction since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks.

In her opening remarks, Shafik stated that there is no room for antisemitism on campus and that she is personally dedicated to confronting it head-on.

The New York City campus of 35,000 students has experienced an increase in complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia, prompting the school to impose restrictions on demonstrations. Protests can now only be held on weekdays at specific times and locations, with advance notice required, according to the Associated Press.

According to Shafik, the school's suspension of 15 students and probation of six for breaches of conduct demonstrates its commitment to safeguarding students, although some argue that this restricts free speech.

On Thursday morning, April 18, a Columbia University student of Jewish heritage who appeared the day before told "Fox & Friends" that she does not feel safe on campus.

Since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks killed over 1,000 civilians in Israel, calls for the country's destruction have intensified on campuses, streets, and other institutions across the nation.

Protesters have shouted "by any means necessary" and "from the river to the sea," effectively advocating for another Holocaust and the extermination of Jews.

The far-left group National Students for Justice in Palestine has spread the phrase "by any means necessary" on campuses, including Columbia's.

The platform of the government is based on Hitler's far-left National Socialist ideology, which includes a single, all-encompassing government and the belief that Jews are colonizers.

"Hitler referred to Jews as "a parasite in the bodies of other nations" in "Mein Kampf.""

On Dec. 20, Columbia's deans released a statement acknowledging the presence of hatred on their campus.

"The school stated that phrases such as "by any means necessary" and "from the river to the sea" are "antisemitic and deeply hurtful.""

"Eisenhower foresaw a day when the horrors of the Holocaust might be denied."

Today, calls for the abolition of Israel are still heard on American campuses, including at Columbia University.

Eisenhower predicted this day.

The horrors of antisemitism and the Holocaust may be forgotten, he said.

Numerous individuals contend that the American educational system has disregarded the significance of learning about its past.

For more Lifestyle articles, visit planetchronicle.net/lifestyle.