When I think of books with Jewish protagonists, it’s hard not to think about the Holocaust. After all, there are so few books with Jewish protagonists that don’t feature World War II and Nazi Germany in some way, even if it’s only tangentially. Gentile authors in particular (that’s any author who isn’t Jewish) can’t seem to get enough of it. Lois Lowry, of “The Giver” fame, also won another Newbery Award for her Holocaust novel “Number the Stars” – a novel which featured Jewish characters only as a vehicle for the Gentile characters to prove their worthiness and courage. It’s a tale as old as time: Gentile author writes about Jewish people, typically Jewish people in peril who are rescued by a Gentile, Gentile author is lauded for their vision, patted on the back, rewarded for deigning to write about those poor victimized Jews. It’s time for it to end.

I’m not suggesting that Gentile authors refrain from writing Jewish characters altogether. Clocking in at less than 1% of the world’s population, there simply aren’t enough Jewish writers to tell all of our stories or to depict every facet of our identities in fiction. I am, however, suggesting that Gentile authors avoid taking the easy road when it comes to writing about Jewish people. The easy road is paved with stories of victimhood and rescue by good and righteous white people, marked by signposts advertising this tragedy or that one, and it leads to accolades and awards more often than not. But as a Jewish person, I’m not simply a victim. My family history isn’t one of victimhood, and as a child, it hurt more than helped for me to see the victimization of my people played out over and over again in literature and film.

With regard to the Holocaust, Gentile writers like to trumpet the stories of the non-Jewish people who tried to rescue Jewish people from Nazi persecution. I get it. These are feel-good stories. Unfortunately, they give readers the impression that more people stood up for the Jews than stood aside, and that’s simply not true. The United States didn’t invade Europe to rescue the Jews. In fact, the United States knew what was going on in the concentration camps and turned a series of blind eyes. And as for the Gentiles in Europe who protected the Jews? There were so few of them. The total number of “Righteous Among Nations” recognized by Yad Vashem is 26, 513. That’s less than 1% of the number of Jewish people slaughtered by the Nazis.

I’m tired of reading stories that use the Holocaust as a method for the Gentile characters to prove their heroism. To be honest, I’m tired of reading about the Holocaust through a Gentile lens. I’m tired of the endless discussion over whether or not Jewish people should forgive the Nazis – as the nauseating discourse over Simon Wiesethal’s “The Sunflower” proves, Gentiles have a lot of opinions about what Jewish people should and shouldn’t do. I’m tired of children’s books that do nothing but tell Jewish children that they’re victims. Most of all, I’m tired of Gentiles telling me to stop talking and thinking and writing about the Holocaust. “It was a long time ago,” they say. “Things are different now,” they say. “Why can’t you just let it go?”

How can I let it go when you won’t?