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In the debate that鈥檚 been raging around President Trump鈥檚 executive order temporarily banning refugees from Syria and other Muslim-majority countries, how strongly you feel about it probably has a lot to do with your own personal experiences or those of your ancestors.

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is an associate professor at the . He studies how Sephardic Jews, a group originally settled in what鈥檚 now Spain and Portugal, migrated and dispersed to areas around the Mediterranean and beyond.

Professor Naar says for many Jewish people in Seattle, the importance of the United States remaining a welcoming place for refugees is something deeply personal that goes way back.

鈥淚 think it’s very subjective in a certain way, depending on one’s personal or family or communal experiences,鈥� Naar said. 鈥淪o I think the Jewish experience, including here in Seattle, from having ties to another place and having had to flee from another place, they’re still very alive and they haven’t dissipated.鈥�

But the recent , and the support for it, Naar says, clearly indicates 鈥渢hat’s not the case for all Americans.鈥�

Naar has studied the histories of Sephardic Jewish families who fled persecution in and around Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. More than 70 years later, the current generations of those families feel a connection to those now being persecuted for their religious beliefs, or those facing the effects of war in other parts of the world.

鈥淚 think there’s a direct parallel, and I think if you speak to the descendants … they would be very in favor of admitting refugees into this country, because they do see a parallel between their own experience and the experience of those that are coming from war-torn places, whether it’s Syria or anywhere else,鈥� Narr said.

Professor Naar knows a lot about one local family in particular named Barkey. They鈥檙e Sephardic Jews who in 1939 fled anti-Semitic persecution where they lived on the island of Rhodes. Though now part of Greece, Rhodes was in those days part of Italy; Italy was led by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, an ally of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

The Barkey family intended to leave Rhodes and settle in Seattle. They had a relative here named Ralph Capeluto, and it was their good fortune that he was a determined guy and successful businessman. Even with Capeluto鈥檚 help, it was impossible to get a visa to travel to the United States in 1939, but the nine members of the Barkey family were able to find safe haven in Tangier, Morocco, where they remained throughout World War II.

It was only through years of dogged determination of 鈥淯ncle Ralph鈥� and his wife Rachel 鈥� they spent a lot of money, and, at one point, even made a special trip all the way to the State Department in Washington, DC 鈥� that the family finally immigrated to the United States and made it to Seattle in 1946.

Clara Barkey was Ralph鈥檚 niece and one of the nine family members who fled from Rhodes. She鈥檚 now deceased, but her daughter Cynthia Flash recently published a book about the family鈥檚 long journey to Seattle called

Cynthia Flash never experienced firsthand the persecution that drove her mother鈥檚 family from Rhodes, but her feelings are clear about the current debate.

鈥淲e know what it’s like to be refugees and to be desperate to get to a country that will accept you,鈥� Flash said. 鈥淎nd it’s just painful to see what is happening. And we just feel for these people … we just don’t agree with [the executive order] and we believe that this country really does vet people that come in. It’s not easy to immigrate to the United States.鈥�

One of those family members who did immigrate here is Cynthia鈥檚 aunt, Amira is now 85, and she says the anti-refugee sentiments being expressed by some people she knows are just plain mystifying.

鈥淚 cannot understand it. It’s very hard for me to understand,鈥� Amira said. 鈥淚’m on Facebook, and sometimes I see [anti-refugee] things that are really against my grain. And usually it’s people who are well-to-do and educated, and I just wonder what makes them be like that.鈥�

Regina Amira says that for her parents and siblings, finding a new place to live was a matter of life and death: two of Regina鈥檚 aunts and their families who remained on Rhodes were deported and sent to Auschwitz. In the United States, Amira got a public school education, learned to speak English, raised a family and then worked as a secretary at Garfield High School for 30 years.

Amira also says that in spite of the turmoil of the past week, she鈥檚 happy to see the demonstrations against the executive order. She says they make her feel hopeful that people, even those without recent memories of family immigration, can learn from the past.

Here in Seattle, at least, people may be doing just that, more than they were only a few weeks ago.

Dee Simon is executive director of , a not-for-profit organization that offers curriculum materials, museum exhibits, a speakers bureau, and other resources for educators as well as for the general public. Their mission is all about learning from the past.

鈥淢y sense is that we seem to forget history, and history has great lessons to teach us,鈥� Simon said. 鈥淚 think what’s important now is to focus on what each and every individual can do to make the world a better place. I think the fact that people are protesting is great.鈥�

Simon says there鈥檚 no comparison between the current situation here and what happened in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, and one particular difference really stands out.

鈥淚 think that the Holocaust happened because there was a lot of collaboration from the average person,鈥� Simon said, 鈥渁nd I think what you’re seeing [now] is people shouting out, people speaking out, exercising their rights in a Democracy.鈥�

Along with the protests, has the Holocaust Center for Humanity seen an uptick in interest from local teachers lately?

鈥淵es, absolutely. Absolutely. My emails are full,鈥� Simon said. 鈥淚 think people are just wanting to learn from history. They’re wanting to identify how to take action, and how to make their action count. And I also think many people are turning to education as a way [to find a] long-term solution.鈥�

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