FEBRUARY 2 • 2023 | 5
continued from page 4
documents from his Mar-
a-Lago residence were “the
Gestopo” (as he spelled it).
Before the news cycle
was done, a former Israeli
attorney general called
proposed judicial reforms in
that country “a pogrom” and
New York Times columnist
Thomas Friedman described
them as a “putsch,” the term
commonly associated with
Adolf Hitler’s failed coup
attempt in 1923, known as
the Beer Hall Putsch.
If such outbursts were
an aberration, they would
be bad enough. But there
have been numerous such
remarks flung about in public
discourse in recent months.
Filmmaker Ken Burns,
speaking on CNN about
Holocaust-era immigration
policies, said the decision
by Florida’s governor to fly
50 migrants to Martha’s
Vineyard was “straight out of
the authoritarian playbook.”
Not to be outdone, the
Republican nominee for
governor of Illinois, Darren
Bailey, declared that “the
attempted extermination of
the Jews of World War II
doesn’t even compare on a
shadow of the life that has
been lost with abortion.”
And Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
said last year that America’s
COVID vaccination policies
are even more dangerous
than Hitler’s policies, since
in Nazi Germany there was
(he claimed) the option of
“hiding in an attic, like Anne
Frank did.”
At least Kennedy retract-
ed and apologized for his
comment. That’s rare among
those who use Nazi analogies
as political weapons.
Five years ago, the United
States Holocaust Memorial
Museum announced that it
“unequivocally rejects efforts
to create analogies between
the Holocaust and other
events, whether historical or
contemporary.”
It issued that statement
after one of its staff histo-
rians, Rebecca Erbelding,
expressed support for the
claim by Rep. Alexandra
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that
U.S. immigration facilities
resemble “concentration
camps.” Erbelding’s state-
ment was made “in a per-
sonal capacity” and “does
not reflect the position of
the Museum,” the museum
emphasized.
Given the sudden pro-
liferation of comparable
statements by public figures
at home and abroad, this
might be a good time for the
Holocaust Museum to pub-
licly reiterate its opposition to
Nazi analogies.
Such analogies both exag-
gerate contemporary contro-
versies and minimize what
the Nazis did. Policies con-
cerning issues such as immi-
gration, abortion or COVID
restrictions naturally generate
intense debate. But it should
be possible to discuss even
the most sensitive issues
without resorting to absurd
and insulting historical com-
parisons. Abortion is not
another Holocaust. America’s
immigration facilities do not
resemble Dachau. And Mar-
a-Lago is not on the way to
Auschwitz.
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding direc-
tor of the David S. Wyman Institute
for Holocaust Studies and author of
more than 20 books about Jewish
history and the Holocaust. His lat-
est is America and the Holocaust:
A Documentary History, published
by the Jewish Publication Society &
University of Nebraska Press. This
piece first appeared in the Jewish
Journal.
Yiddish Limerick
Correction
In “Home-Grown Wine” (Jan. 26, page 40), the name of
Apollo Braganini’s great-grandfather was incorrect. His
correct name is Mariano Meconi.
Tu b’Shevat
On Rosh Hashanah of the tree
Ich plant ain boyml, tzvay, or three.
Then mit geduld ich vart a bissl,
Un hob some frucht, a gantze shissl.
Der frucht iz zaftik, un it’s free.
Ich- I
ain boyml — one small tree
tzvay — two
mit geduld — with patience
ich vart a bissl — I wait a little
Un hob — and have
frucht — fruit
a gantze shissl — a whole bowl
Der frucht iz zaftik — the fruit is juicy
— Rachel Kapen