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Lucy the Elephant
Courtesy of the Save Lucy Committee, Inc.

When Is it Appropriate to Say
‘Never Forget’?
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
I n 1973, Lucy the Elephant in
Margate, New Jersey, was almost
torn down. Only a Saturday
morning court injunction stopped the
wrecking ball, according to Richard
Helfant, Lucy’s executive director for
the past 22 years.

As he tries to raise the fi nal $800,000
for the landmark’s present-day reno-
vation, Helfant wants shore locals to
remember that history. So, in a sum-
mer fundraising mailer, he sent a pic-
ture of Lucy from that year alongside
the phrase, “Never forget, never again.”
Th e mailer helped raise $70,000, but
6 JULY 28, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
it also angered summer Margate resi-
dents Susan and Matthew Klyman for
its obvious connection to Holocaust
remembrance language. Th e Jewish
couple asked for a public apology
from Helfant, who is also Jewish, and
received one in recent days.

To the Klymans, the phrase is not
exclusive to the Holocaust, but it should
be reserved for Holocaust-type events.

“If you’re going to talk about it in
a universal sense, it’s also to prevent
other genocides,” Susan Klyman said.

“To use it in a more cavalier way
demeans the meaning of those words.”
“We can’t ever forget that she was
that close to the wrecking ball, and we
can’t let it happen again,” Helfant said
of Lucy in the days before his apology.

But in his apology, fi rst reported by Th e
Philadelphia Inquirer, he said that the
Lucy did not measure up to the phrase.

Matt Klyman mentioned that the
phrase could also help people remem-
ber the Armenian genocide and the
Rwandan genocide, as well as a tragedy
like 9/11 in the United States. While
historical memory is important in any
context, some events are more import-
ant to remember than others, and those
words hold a lot of weight.

Susan Klyman believes that “unfath-
omable loss of life,” and in particular
human life, should be the focus of
them. About 6 million Jews died in the
Holocaust. Almost 3,000 Americans
died in 9/11.

Lucy, on the other hand, is “an
inanimate object,” Matt Klyman said.

Th e couple does care about Lucy and
donate money to the cause of preserv-
ing the attraction.

“But it does not have the meaning
of a loss of life and genocide,” Susan
Klyman said.

Edna Friedberg, a historian at the
United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum in Washington, D.C., said
people could use a few words any way
they wanted. But before doing so, they
should ask themselves why a particular
term has resonance.

In the United States, the phrase
“Never forget, never again” has become



“You have to look at it on a case-by-
case basis, and people have to ask
themselves if they are just using the
language or exploiting the emotional
reactions people have to the phrase.”
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associated with Holocaust remem-
brance. We look at the Holocaust
and see failures to act, according to
Friedberg. So, in our pluralistic society,
it’s supposed to imply that never again
shall we fail like this for any group, not
just Jews.

Th erefore, it’s important to be care-
ful when using the language.

“You have to look at it on a case-
by-case basis, and people have to ask
themselves if they are just using the
language or exploiting the emotional
reactions people have to the phrase,”
the historian said.

Jonathan Sarna, the resident his-
torian at the Weitzman National
Museum of American Jewish History
in Philadelphia, agrees with Friedburg
that it’s important to look at and under-
stand the motivation of the person
using the phrase.

Th e Brandeis University professor
used “all lives matter” as an exam-
ple. Few people would disagree with
that statement on its face. Yet in a
post-George Floyd, post-Black Lives
Matter and post-2020 context in the
United States, it can be a dismissive
response to a call for equality for Black
Americans. “Th at’s why you have to look at the
particulars of the case,” he said.

Aft er considering the particulars of
the Lucy case, Sarna thought many
Jews would say that the use of the
language was “perhaps unintention-
ally insensitive.” He believed it was
probably a good idea to come up with
wording a little more appropriate to the
situation. “Once you cheapen a phrase, it’s hard
to restore it to the sanctity that it once
had,” he said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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The Save Lucy Committee is raising money to preserve the Margate
attraction. Courtesy of the Save Lucy Committee, Inc.

© 2022 ProMedica Health System, Inc., or its affiliates
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