Vans filled with suffocated bodies. Frightened masses huddled in railcars, unsure of their final destination. Jews leaving Europe in response to heightened antisemitism. Xenophobic parties marching in public squares and issuing diatribes against non-white “outsiders.”

It has been impossible for students of history to miss the grotesque resemblance between these recent scenes and those of fascist Europe in the 1930s and ’40s. Much has been written about the rise of the political right, the bursts of anti-semitic and anti-Muslim violence in France and elsewhere, the plight of migrants, and appeals to nativist sentiments.

The anniversary of the passage of the Nuremberg racial laws provides an occasion to reflect on the state of racism and xenophobia in contemporary Europe and the United States. And it should remind us that attacking economic insecurity is central to the fight against nativism and bigotry.