There is an interesting potential lawsuit brewing in Ohio over a Holocaust memorial that will feature a prominent Star of David on the Ohio Statehouse lawn. The memorial, designed by Daniel Libeskind, has been criticized as violation by the separation of church and state by civil libertarians. The case could present a perfect vehicle to explore the meaning of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Salazar v. Buono in 2010 where a sharply divided court allowed a cross to remain on public lands as a memorial for the dead of World War I.
The Holocaust Memorial has been approved by the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board and will be built with $1.8 million in private funds. It is the Star of David that makes the design so controversial. Ohio Jewish Communities Executive Director Joyce Garver Keller, however, insisted that the symbol is a warning about the dangers of abuse in legislatures: “The Holocaust did not start in concentration camps. It did not begin with the ovens and smokestacks. It began in the halls of government, with laws being passed by a democratically-elected government that took away rights of Jews and others, and eventually let to the holocaust.”
However, the Freedom From Religion Foundation argues that there were at least five million non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, including gays, Jehovah Witnesses, Roma Gypsies, and the disabled. They object to the need for a prominent religious symbol. Keller insists that while the memorial features the defining symbol of the Jewish faith, it memorializes everyone.
That rationale tracks the decision in Salazar v. Buono, where the Court voted that a cross placed as a memorial on public lands for soldiers who died in World War I. The Ninth Circuit has ruled the cross unconstitutional. The district court also found a violation but the Court narrowly ruled that the specific facts of the case allowed the cross to pass constitutional muster:
By dismissing Congress’s motives as illicit, the District Court took insufficient account of the context in which the statute was enacted and the reasons for its passage. Private citizens put the cross on Sunrise Rock to commemorate American servicemen who had died in World War I. Although certainly a Christian symbol, the cross was not emplaced on Sunrise Rock to promote a Christian message. Cf. County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, 492 U. S. 573, 661 (1989) (KENNEDY, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part) (“[T]he [Establishment] Clause forbids a city to permit the permanent erection of a large Latin cross on the roof of city hall . . . because such an obtrusive year-round religious display would place the government’s weight behind an obvious effort to proselytize on behalf of a particular religion”). Placement of the cross on Government-owned land was not an attempt to set the imprimatur of the state on a particular creed. Rather, those who erected the cross intended simply to honor our Nation’s fallen soldiers.
It was a splintered decision with three different rationales and a narrow margin of 5-4 on the Court. However, unlike the Ohio case, the cross was not put on the property by order of the government and had been at the location for decades.
The Salazar decision signaled an effort at greater accommodation for religious symbols that are used for a broader meaning than an “imprimatur on a particular creed.” However, the Ohio dispute presents a closer question. There are various artistic expressions possible for the Holocaust, which extended to both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Yet, this Star of David is expressed artistically in the design. Yet, the fear is that such accommodation will create a slippery slope for other religions. For years, Christian groups have fought to add crosses to public areas. They could do so by calling such displays memorials. As other religions demand their own prominent symbols, we could be left with the dangerous selection of one religion over another.
Notably, the vote was 8-1 with Richard Finan, chairman of the advisory board and former president of the Ohio Senate, voting against it on separation grounds.
It is an ironic twist. Jewish groups have long joined civil libertarians to oppose Christian symbols on the basis of separation of powers principles. As some argue now with regard to the Star of David in Ohio, Christian groups insisted that the cross means more than just Christianity. Many Americans believe that the entanglement of government and religion is the greatest threat to liberty. This case could further lower the wall of separation of church and state if successful. It is an ironic twist given the purpose of reminding people of the threat of abuse of minority groups by the government. That symbol itself can only be maintained by expanding the ability of the government to erect religious symbols.
This case could have the elements missing in Salazar — a new memorial put up by the government through a direct approval and construction plan. The Court stressed in the decision that “Time also has played its role. The cross had stood on Sunrise Rock for nearly seven decades before the statute was enacted.” Time has played no role here. This may all play out in court and the result could have great implications for the line drawn of separation between church and state.
Source: NBC
The Holocaust has been cynically used by Zionists in order to perpetuate their sense of victimhood. Otherwise, why not memorialize genocide committed closer to home?
Why is it there is so much said about these stars and crosses on public property, teachers and gov’t employees censored for talking about religious morals to others but politicians can spew this out of their mouths and make policies based on religion and nothing ever stop them. How can every president conclude nearly every speech with God bless but a valedictorian cannot do this at a high school graduation? What would be the worse threat to liberty?
Really Joy? The Jews own D.C.?
Next time you are rational, spend some time perusing clients of the lobbying sections all the big-time law firms have in D.C. You might notice the substantial amount of $$, actually huge amount of $$ Arab regimes spend buying law firms and lobbyists.
I find it laughable when folks like Joy pop off about Jewish influence. The worst kept secret in D.C. is the money pipeline from oil-rich Arab countries to American lobbyists within big D.C. law firms. Do you have any idea how much it costs to get all those pages on Saudi Arabia in the 9/11 Report redacted?
And take a look at the post-Commissiomn employment situation of the 9/11 Commission members (and their aides) who ran interference against any real investigation of problems pre-9/11, especially regarding the Clinton Administration.
“Gee, doesn’t everyone know by now that the Jews own the holocaust for promotional purposes?”
Joy,
Really? The next time I see my neighbors who lived through it and lost both their families, I’ll explain to them that they have nothing to complain about and that their memories are false.
Had the Jews not rejected Jesus not perverting scripture regarding one teaching namely hell the holocaust would have never occurred.
“Had the Jews not rejected Jesus not perverting scripture regarding one teaching namely hell the holocaust would have never occurred.”
Jonathan,
I had never though of you as an ignorant bigot up until now. You are essentially saying that the Holocaust was God’s punishment for the Jews not following Jesus. If that is the case, then one can say that Hitler was an instrument of God and is sitting with him in heaven today.
The bigot is you walking the same path as those that reject Jesus. What is God going to do when people wander away from him? Answer me that?
Jonathan,
You, unlike Jesus are a bigot and a vicious one at that.
What did I do that makes you pick up a stone?
“What did I do to make you cast a stone? ”
I’m a Jew and I don’t accept Jesus as my saviour. You implied that by my people not accepting Jesus they were damned in the Shoah, by God. This was not the teaching of a Jewish, Pharisee Rabbi named Jesus, but they are the remsrks of s bigot.
There was a reason Jesus wept when the Jewish people rejected him. That was God with blood in him you rejected. Abraham had he be raised up from the dead in the days of Christ would have said my Lord and my God. Jesus has an enimy called Satan. Reject him accept him. The thing is you can reject Satan accepting Jesus. When you do that the weapons people trust in will no longer be trusted in. even in the old testament weapons are seen a foolish. KJV, Ecclesiastes 9:18 How can your words have any wisdom ? People not knowing any better behold the lack of wisdom becoming even as you are.
When the Pharaoh rejected Moses good was not the result. Why can’t you see a correlation with the what happened to the Jewish people?
I defend people. How is that your accusation?
“I defend people”
You didn’t defend the Jews who died in the Shoah. You condemned them
Can a chick find refuge from the hawk when the chick refuses to be under the wing of the hen?
The mentality of the Jewish people are against who I defend. Jewish people are legalistic and militaristic. The Muslims see that also thinking a thing that goes boom is power thinking that legalistic is good too having barbaric Sharia law. One learns from the other. Each play the deadly blame game. Both are wrong.
Jonathan Hughes,
I am sad to realize that you are an anti-Jewish bigot. I had thought you better than that.
I am sad seeing the results of rejecting your best friend. Jesus is not an enemy. Stop rejecting him, cast the dark one away. What is bad about that? God in me casts devils out of people wanting ill will toward gays, zoosexuals and furries of the furry Fandom too. What happened is cause and effect.
What does the Jewish nation expect when they rejected Jesus accepting the warmonger Barabbas, peter and Judas? Answer me.
Do you think good should come to people that favor lies over the truth? Gods light his glory that God wears like a robe is what is hell to evil. People perpetuating the lie that hell was a place God put people into made the arm of man wrath. KJV, James:1 20 – 21, for the wrath of man worketh not the rightiouness of God. Whearfor lay apart all filthyness, and superfluidy of naugtyness. All war AKA wrath is described in that verse. Hitler was born because religions lied about hell. All war occurs because of that lie. legal system that condemns is born of that lie. That is one in a long list.
Religious lies created Hitler because he did not have a rock to behold. Peter and Judas were the only ones Hitler could behold. What do you think would happen?
OS Having political symbols is needed since the whole POINT of the Holocaust was to secure the political power of the Nazis. Thus the hammer and sickle needs to be there most of all since the whole lesson of the Nazi regime is that terror was used to get and keep political power, and thus illegitimate. In fact, the anti-communism of the Nazis is why the Western powers loved the Nazis and were so willing to allow them to come to power and void the Versailles Treaty provisions. Making this memorial only a religious one is not only unConstitutional, but misses the whole lesson of this disaster. We do not have to be concerned only for the Jews, but for us ALL, including communists, socialists, liberals, blacks, Latinos,etc..
While it is true that some dissident Nazis, the SA, were killed, they were NOT sent to the concentration camp, thus they have no place. It is one killing that HItler did which was good. Too bad they did not eat more of each other. As for the Orthodox Church in Russia, it was PROMOTED by Stalin when the war came to the Soviet Union. In fact when I was in the Soviet Union in 1984, religion was freely practiced and while there were not that many people in the churches on Sun, they were in fact allowed to practice their religion. The so called upsurge in the Orthodox faith is mostly for political reasons to promote political figures agendas. I doubt even Putin seriously believes in God or the church. He DOES believe that it is a good foil to use to promote his power. Most of those who are in power now are former party members who are just cynical politicians who will use any hook or crook to gain power. It used to be the Communist Party, now they are willing to use the Orthodox Church.
“In fact when I was in the Soviet Union in 1984, religion was freely practiced and while there were not that many people in the churches on Sun”
Randyjet,
Really, I’ve personally known far too many Soviet Jews to believe that religion was freely practiced there in 1984, or perhaps they lied to me?
No Mike S they did not lie to you. What you have to ask is what do they and YOU mean by religious freedom? Does it mean that Israel or foreign Jews can come in and buy land and erect a synaogue? In that case, no there was no religious freedom, but by the same token, the Soviet Union was not allowed to come to the US and use its resources to build a nice new headquarters for the CPUSA either. Does that mean that the US had no policital freedom? In the case of Jews in the Soviet Union it is a far more complex thing since much of the question of Jewish religion was caught up in politics as much as religion. I have to say that I had no contact with Jews in the Soviet Union, so I cannot speak to that from personal experience. I can say that there were plenty of religious services there if one wished to take part. For many Christians, any interference in their imposing religion on society is wrong, and thus violates religious “freedom” We can see that in Poland today where there is NO religious freedom now since the Catholic Church is ruling the roost, but the Catholics think that is just great.
In the Soviet Union back then, it was the law that all persons had to have a productive job, thus unless they were part of the official Orthodox Church, one could not be a full time minister or rabbi too, though I think that they still had a few official rabbis, but not many to be sure. If people wanted to have a service in their homes, they could do so, and not have to worry about the police raiding it and sending people off to jail. Back under Stalin, this would happen, until WWII. I was quite surprised at the lack of fear in the Soviet Union and even had some locals express dissent to me about the state of affairs. I visited Romania and the only good thing about that was that I got to experience what it must have been like under Stalin. From what I learned, even Russians could not wait to get out of there and back to the relative freedom of the Soviet Union.
“The Star of David was more than a religious symbol during Hitler’s reign of terror. It was his attempt to use that symbol as one of shame. Jews were forced to wear this symbol as a target for their slaughter. There is much more than religion tied up in the Star of David being on display @ THIS memorial.”
Nick,
My first reaction, as a Jew, was that I could see the point of contention and wondered if in fact the Star of David would be counter productive at this place, on State property. Then I read your quote above and found it quite persuasive. While I recognize that the Shoah was not strictly about Jews, certainly in the way you describe the Star became a symbol of the entire act, because the first real step across the line by the NAZI’s were the laws forcing Jews to wear it at all times in public. From a propagandist’s point of view that was a master stroke, because it created an instant sense of separation and dehumanization in the minds of the German people. Your statement frankly left me in a state of indecision about this issue, since it reminded me of how I’ve always felt intuitively about the Shoah.
As for the proliferation of Holocaust (Shoah) memorials around the world I believe that it is essential because as OS has pointed out fewer and fewer survivors live on. We have seen those like Bill McW on this blog join the ranks of those who denied the Holocaust ever took place and in truth human acts of brutality must constantly be remembered if ever we are to change. I must say also that it is important to recognize that the Shoah didn’t just happen to the Jews, neither has it been the first, nor the last genocide in human history.
I’m the type of person that carries the insensitivity with which I treated others at times in my life forever if I can’t redress it to them personally. I had a friend in college who was Armenian. I can remember me making fun of his telling about the Armenian Genocide, since I had never heard of it. I did this in a crowd of friends and made him angry. Many years later, after we had long lost touch, I found out about the Armenian Genocide and I remain regretful of my insensitivity to him.
Many ethnicities and people of differing sexual orientation have suffered at the hands of bigotry and hate. It seems a commonality of the worst of human behavior throughout history. We need to remind ourselves constantly of our human capability to inflict destructive harm on others and these edifices serve that purpose. While it certainly can’t cure what aeons of human history have bred into us, it is a beginning, however, fitful.
The church is us. The spirit inhabits the church that is us. The church is our body. The church thought to be a building is the same as the state. Religious people worship their buildings. Do that make them into an idol. Do that seek a sacrifice. They sought as sacrafic of the gay. That has changed. The new sacrifice is the one who has sex with another species. Other sacrifices are made, Jails are set aside for them. Some literally with the death penalty as it is called. The state glorifies sacrifice killing people calling it good. War sacrifices life. Police give guilt even as the servant of the high priest. Police sacrafise life too killing people. Guilt cannot be given to anything other than a human being. That is why Satan in the soul of a person gives guilt with arresting. Religious people wanted to give Jesus guilt. In spirit both are the same. Teach others.
Joy, that was hateful and uncalled for.
Gee, doesn’t everyone know by now that the Jews own the holocaust for promotional purposes? And shouldn’t we just move the US Capital to Israel? After all, they own us. Forget their statehood. They own the Feds. We must begin our daily prayers, kneeling down, pointing East toward the occupied territories.
ARE,
I dunno about political symbols such as the hammer and sickle, because that would open the door to too many abuses. After all, Hitler exterminated Nazis who did not toe the line as well. Certainly symbols for faith or perhaps ethnicity would be appropriate. I wonder how many of those Russians were closet Orthodox faith? After the fall of communism, the Russian Orthodox Church made a comeback at warp speed. That was not by accident. There were millions of Russians who never lost their faith, but were not allowed to profess it under Stalin. Their symbol is a cross with slanted footrest, also used by the Greek Orthodox Church.
BTW, Gypsies have many symbols, many of them Runic. However, the universally recognized Gypsy symbol is a wagon wheel.
I agree the figures are a bit confusing and even misleading. That is why I said the best estimates I found range from eleven to seventeen million and that was just the dead. The survivors were victims too.
Mike S I agree with most of what you say. I am rather unsettled by OS not wanting political symbols on the memorial since the whole point of the Holocaust was political. It was not economic, or military, but served a political purpose to use hatred of others to consolidate and force a dictatorship on the German people. Thus having a hammer and sickle is more appropriate than ever since it takes a symbol of hatred in the US and reminds us of how the Holocaust started and gained traction among the Germans. The KPD and SPD members were the FIRST in the camps. The Jews came later. Having such a symbol as the hammer and sickle will remind people of the complicity of the so called democracies in Hitler’s actions mainly because of their hatred for communism. As long as Hitler was putting KPD and SPD members in camps and exterminating them, the west had NO problem. When he started passing anti-Semitic laws, then the west made some protests, though rather feeble. As a result, the Nazis let up on most of the persecution for the 1936 Berlin Olympics for the duration so as not to disturb the participants from abroad. Crystalnacht only happened in 1938 after a Jewish student shot the German ambassador to France. I am most concerned about the objection to the hammer and sickle because it yeilds to the very hatred that made the Holocaust possible and the West’s complicity with Hitler.
As for the Armenian genocide, I have to disagree that it was in any way similar to the Holocaust. I have a hard time calling it genocide if we are to use that term to signify a designed mass murder of a people. I have read what happened in that situation in the Ottoman Empire, and the closest thing similar is what the US did to the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, multiplied by the usual incompetence of the Ottomans. I would guess that the Ottomans killed off as many of their own troops as they did Armenians thanks to their corruption, incompetence, and sadism. So the Ottomans did not herd them into camps and kill them en masse as the Nazis did. So it is a choice of words as to call it genocide or not. My preference is massacre or negligent mass homicide, and I prefer to use the word genocide for the Holocaust or what happened in Rwanda.
“Thus having a hammer and sickle is more appropriate than ever since it takes a symbol of hatred in the US and reminds us of how the Holocaust started and gained traction among the Germans.”
Randyjet,
Look I get where you are politically and also understand that from the Marxist perspective the Revolution was really to occur in industrialized Germany and so Hitler’s ascension over the Marxists was a disappointment. Yes the first imprisoned in the camps were Hitler’s political opponents, many of who were Marxist. However, the treatment of the Jews, Gipsies, Homosexuals was specifically one of genocide, not political disagreement and that is what makes the Shoah distinctive. I think you’re letting your politics get in the way of your logic. 🙂
“I have read what happened in that situation in the Ottoman Empire, and the closest thing similar is what the US did to the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, multiplied by the usual incompetence of the Ottomans.”
The trail of Tears was genocide, just as the giving of pox infected blankets to native Americans was genocide. The Armenian Genocide qualifies as such as well since there were thousands directly murdered by bullets and the aim was to destroy the Armenian culture which was seen as decadent.
Mike S This has nothing to do with my politics, but with a truthful rendition of history so that we can LEARN from it. If you want a symbol on the monument it needs to reflect the saying of Martin Niemoller. In fact, I think that would be a far better thing than a Star of David. I am sure the most folks here remember it. First they came for the communists, and I did not object because I was not a communist, then they came for the Social Democrats, and I did not object because I was not a Social Democrat, etc.. I think that presents the lesson of the Holocaust in a far more truthful and accurate manner. While it is true that the political opponents did not all suffer in the same way as the ethnic groups, one could stop being a communist and join the NSAP if one did it quick enough. One could not stop being a Jew or Gypsy or Pole, or Slav etc..
I am a bit amazed that you repeat the lie about the US and pox infected blankets. First off it never happened. Second it was proposed by Lord Amherst before the US even existed. Third doing so would have been a GOOD thing if they had done it. You are old enough I think to have gotten a smallpox vaccination so you remember that they cut your skin and put smallpox virus into it. So a Native American would actually have been lucky to have gotten those blankets and hopefully gotten a cut so that they could get immunity. In fact, Washington ordered the soldiers of the Continental Army to be vaccinated by cutting open the skin and putting live pus into it. That is a LOT more invasive than giving blankets.
You also do not know that the point of the Armenian “genocide” was NOT to exterminate them,but to do what FDR did in WWII to the Japanese Americans. WWI was going on at the time, and the Armenians were actively supporting the Russians in hopes of getting a homeland at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. Thus the Ottomans decided to remove them from the war front. They could have cared less about Armenians being decadent since the Ottomans perfected that art. In fact, it would have created some sympathy for them if anything. The Trail of Tears was not genocide in my view because the point of that was NOT to kill the Cherokees off. That they killed off thousands was more a product of incompetence and ignorance and bigotry than anything. By the way, that was done thanks to traitors in the Cherokee ranks who promoted that relocation, and not only the fault of the US. In fact, Washington and Jeffersons policies towards the Cherokee was to leave them where they were and make them US citizens.
I think the Salazar case, to the extent it can be said to have an actual holding, stands for the proposition these sort of monuments, memorials, etc., MIGHT be OK. It is decided on a case by case basis, depending on the facts.
Personally, I was not crazy about the Holocaust Museum in D.C., because it involved the government. Government means politics, and a different sort of politics than in a private manner. That is, the Courts must analyze issues differently. And if you think there cannot be controversy in a museum regarding the Holocaust, better Google about the Smithsonian and the war-ending atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
In this case I believe the monument & Star of David is OK. The memorial has no political purpose, is built with private funds, and the Star of David is the only bona fide “universal” symbol of Jewry. I know it has not been that way forever, but it has for several centuries, and unquestionably was during WWII.
The next one will have to be judged on its own, different merits.
Skip, Having ONLY a Jewish star of David is a religious symbol and promotes an outright lie. The Holocaust was NOT exclusively a Jewish horror and by omitting the majority of its victims, it loses any claim to be a memorial to the Holocaust. Now as I suggested, if they wish to honor the MAJORITY of the victims with appropriate symbols, then the star of David should be there as well. My suggestion for symbols would be in order of the victims who were sent to the camps. So the hammer and sickle would have to be first for the KPD, then the fist and rose for the SPD and trade unionists, then the Star of David, then a pink star for gays, etc.. This would provide a far more important lesson for all which is not that the legislature did something bad, but that the crime of the Holocaust happened in what was considered the most civilized, advanced country in Europe. If it could happen there, it CAN happen anywhere, even the USA. So when I look at the Holocaust, I don’t tremble with hatred for Germans, but for the safety and concern for my own country. It can happen here.
OS While your figures are good for only some of the victims of the Holocaust, you left out a few millions. There were at least a million non-Jewish Germans, mostly Communists, Socail Democrats, trade unionists, and various Catholic and other anti-Nazi Christian groups. The figures I recall are about 12 million murdered, with close to six million Jews who bore the brunt of the mass murder. Also missing is the 800,000 Serbs killed at Jasenovic concentration camp in Yugoslavia which was run by our now allies the Croatians under the Ustashi puppet government. Pope Pius XII even complained to Mussolini about the fact that Italian forces were not turning over Serbs to the Ustashi for execution in the camp.
Ms Keller needs to learn some history before she makes stupid remarks about how the Nurenberg laws came about. It was in 1935 that they were DECREED, well after the Nazis got rid of most of their opposition and put them in the concentration camps after 1933. The fact is that the Nazis never won a majority of votes in any election and before the vote on enabling the dictatorship, they even lost votes, despite mass terror in the last “free” election. That is why they got rid of elections.
At least the cross case for US war veterans can claim that about 90% of the vets were Christians of one kind or another. The Jews can at best claim 49% if that much, and some of those victims would not consider themselves Jewish at all. In fact, many of the Jews who were murdered did not consider themselves Jewish and regarded themselves as militant atheists. So the Jewsih proportion drops well below a majority. In fact, the first victims were members of the German Communist Party which was the largest Communist Party outside of the Soviet Union with the French coming in close behind. Most of the SPD, were in hiding, in camps, or fled abroad as later German leader Willy Brandt did. If the committee wishes to place a star of David, I would have no problem with that as long as ALL the victims have their place. So alongside the star should be a hammer and sickle, a symbol for the SPD, a cross for the Poles, another for Serbs, one for gays, Gypsies, etc..
Göring’s List: Should Israel Honor a Leading Nazi’s Brother?
Hermann Göring’s younger brother Albert, of all people, rescued Jews from the Nazis, and yet his story is forgotten.
…
Albert Göring was the opposite of his brother. He hated the Nazis, and he said early on that Hitler would mean war and ruin. He didn’t join the Nazi Party, and he despised his brother for bowing to Hitler. He distanced himself from Germany, first going to Austria, where he took Austrian citizenship. After the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, he moved to Prague, and from there to Budapest and Bucharest. Wherever he went, he helped those in desperate need, both before and during the war.
I have read and studied much about the Holocaust. It did entail the slaughter of all the aforementioned groups of people. It was all part of the Aryan plan of a madman. However, please don’t ever forget who was the primary target of Hitler. It was the Jews.
I am a civil libertarian. However, I do not check my common sense @ the door of libertarianism. The Star of David was more than a religious symbol during Hitler’s reign of terror. It was his attempt to use that symbol as one of shame. Jews were forced to wear this symbol as a target for their slaughter. There is much more than religion tied up in the Star of David being on display @ THIS memorial. There is strength, honor, horror and the hopefully everlasting symbol of good triumphing over might and evil. The Star of David is important as a historical symbol on this historical memorial. As in many instances, Freedom From Religion has it wrong on this one.
I’ve never quite understood why Americans insist on memorializing a tragedy that happened on another continent perpetrated by a foreign government and people. Why are there no American memorials to slavery?
While I understand Jewish sensitivities and sensibilities regarding the Holocaust, it was not just a crime against Jews. It was a crime against the entire human race. An estimated 11 million people died in the Holocaust. Some experts have put the true number at closer to 17 million. Of those, approximately five to six million were Jews. I don’t have problems with symbols of faith or racial/ethnic identity on public property, provided all those who died or suffered in the camps should be honored and remembered. I have known a number of people who survived the camps. I once worked for a Jewish charitable organization where some of the people in our office were survivors. Most are dead now, and those left are in their 80s and 90s. Pretty soon there will be no one to remember them, so the memorial is important and I support it. My preference is that it be more inclusive, which would get around the legal thicket that is about to surround it.
I wrote about my friend Kirby who was imprisoned in Buchenwald. He was a protestant Christian. He became acquainted with a number of Gypsies who were murdered while he was there. I have more to tell about that story, but it is so horrible I left it out of my two stories about the airmen of Buchenwald.
For what it is worth, a little Internet research gives this breakdown of Holocaust victims. The numbers are only approximate, because no one knows the true figure.
Jews – 5.9 million
Soviet POW’s – 3.3 million
Non-Jewish Poles – 1.8-2 million
Romanis (Gypsies) – 220,000- 270,000 (but even the higher figure may be too low)
Disabled and mentally ill – 200,000 – 250,000
Homosexuals – 5,000 – 15,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses – 2,500 – 5,000
The figures above include the camps as well as mass graves in the countryside, killings in the street, organized mass shootings (such as Babi Yar). Basically, all victims who were singled out because of ethnicity, religion, politics, sexual orientation, or physical/mental handicap.
There are approximately 250 Holocaust museums scattered around the world.
AY,
I understand, but public property is public property and should not be mixed with any religion. This does not recognize all religions, but only Jewish victims once you include the Star of David.
Raff,
Private money….. Only public fund is the real property…. Why not recognize all religions as well….
I agree that this is a violation of the separation of church and state. Government money should not be used for any purpose that utilizes religious symbols of any faith.
I have no problem with this…. People need to get a life…/