opinions & letters
Rampant Use, Abuse
of Holocaust Analogy
Rafael Medoff
A new record may have just been set for the
most Hitler analogies in a 24-hour period.

From Moscow to Mar-a-Lago, public
fi gures this week were inappropriately invoking
Nazi-related terms to denounce developments that
did not at all resemble those of the Nazi era.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared
that the United States and its European allies are
attempting to solve “the Russian question” in the
same way that “Hitler wanted a ‘fi nal solution’ to the
Jewish question.”
Meanwhile, more than fi ve thousand miles away,
former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social
that the FBI agents who recently removed classi-
fi ed government documents from his Mar-a-Lago
residence were “the Gestopo” (as he spelled it).

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 retracted 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 eff orts 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 “concentra-
tion camps.” Erbelding’s statement was made “in a
personal capacity” and “does not refl ect the position
It should be possible to discuss even the most sensitive
issues without resorting to absurd and insulting
historical comparisons.

Before the news cycle was done, a former Israeli
attorney general called proposed judicial reforms in
that country “a pogrom,” and New York Times colum-
nist 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 fl ung 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 fl y 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.”
of the Museum,” the museum emphasized.

Given the sudden proliferation of comparable
statements by public fi gures at home and abroad,
this might be a good time for the Holocaust Museum
to publicly reiterate its opposition to Nazi analogies.

Such analogies both exaggerate contemporary
controversies and minimize what the Nazis did.

Policies concerning issues such as immigration,
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 comparisons. Abortion
is not another Holocaust. America’s immigration
facilities do not resemble Dachau. And Mar-a-Lago
is not on the way to Auschwitz. ■
Rafael Medoff is founding director of the David S.

Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of
more than 20 books about Jewish history and the
Holocaust. This op-ed was originally published by
Jewish Journal.

Article Inspired
I was overjoyed to see the Jan. 12 Jewish Exponent
devote the front page article to the work of Jennifer
Anolik and Moving Traditions (“You Should Know
Jennifer Anolik”).

The work Moving Traditions does in training the
next generation of Jews in the values, traditions and
history of our people is the absolute best invest-
ment for insuring our survival. I was moved to read
of Anolik’s family connection to the Shoah and the
vital role that plays in her work for justice for all
people. I only wish I could be a Kol Koleinu fellow
learning feminist change-making and how to build
sacred community. It is stories like these that keep
me reading the Jewish Exponent and feeling hopeful
for the future.

Abigail B. Weinberg
Philadelphia Be Careful With Your Words
Rabbi Michael Rose Knopf rightly extols “respectful”
Jewish debate (“Why I’m Not Sure I’m Right,” Jan. 19).

As Israel is a normal human polity, there is certainly
much to debate about. But that should be engaged
from a stance of prideful affi nity and unwillingness to
rush to critical judgment, before full investigation of
the facts, of actual, not hypothetical, actions.

While concern about some ministers in the new
government is understandable, the democratically
expressed will of the Israeli electorate ought be
respected. Israeli mega-party elections invariably
result in coalitions. All parties to it make demands,
but threats to leave usually ring hollow, given a next
election’s uncertainty. As a highly seasoned politi-
cian, Netanyahu should be able to restrain unpopular
proposals. Case in point: Israel’s Supreme Court. Its members
eff ectively choose their ideological soulmate succes-
sors. That it can strike down Knesset laws as unrea-
sonable seems highly unreasonable. Altered division
or power between those two bodies will require
careful consideration.

Sage Talmudic advice to critics: “Be careful with
your words.” A loyal opposition doesn’t call for
massive public protests or civil war. The enemies of
Israel and the Jewish people are watching and listen-
ing intently, awaiting any words to weaponize. ■
Richard D. Wilkins
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
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