The references seem endless, and they can come from anywhere. In recent days, Pope Francis compared Nicaragua바카라s repression of Catholics to Hitler바카라s rule in Germany. In Britain, a BBC sportscaster likened the nation바카라s asylum policy to 1930s Germany, resulting in his brief suspension and a national uproar.
For Holocaust and anti-Nazi scholars and organizations, the two sentiments were understandable 바카라 but concerning. Invoking Hitler and Nazi Germany, they warn, often serves to revive a familiar and unwelcome line of argument.
바카라We have to be aware of, and confront, contemporary instances of discrimination, hate speech and human rights abuses across the world,바카라 says Rafal Pankowski, a Polish sociologist who heads the anti-Nazi NEVER AGAIN Association. But he added: 바카라Of course, the historical analogies must not be overused and devalued. The label `Nazi바카라 should not be trivialized and reduced to a term of abuse against anybody we don바카라t like.바카라
Last week, Pope Francis was quoted as criticizing the government in Nicaragua, where religious leaders have been arrested or fled, for acting as 바카라if it were a communist dictatorship in 1917 or a Hitlerian one in 1935.바카라 Nicaragua responded by proposing to suspend Vatican ties.
Around the same time, the BBC바카라s Gary Lineker tweeted that a plan announced by Britain바카라s Conservative government was 바카라immeasurably cruel바카라 and included language 바카라not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.바카라
The bill, intended to stop tens of thousands of migrants a year from reaching the country in small boats across the English Channel, would bar asylum claims by anyone who reaches the United Kingdom by unauthorized means and compel the government to detain and deport them 바카라to their home country or a safe third country.바카라
At first, the broadcaster suspended Lineker, its highest paid TV commentator. But it reversed itself on Monday and praised Lineker as a 바카라valued part of the BBC.바카라
ALTERNATIVE WORDING
Peter Fritzsche, author of 바카라An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler,바카라 among other books, calls Lineker바카라s comments poorly expressed and misguided, given that 바카라Nazi Germany had no immigration policy바카라.바카라 Rather than comparisons to the Nazis, Fritzsche believes Lineker would have been better off describing the policy with the words 바카라racist바카라 or 바카라inhumane.바카라
바카라Great Britain, in its rhetoric about immigrants and its policies regarding asylum-seekers ... generates quite rightly enormous outrage, because we believe Great Britain is in the family of democratic humane nations,바카라 says Fritzsche, a history professor at the University of Illinois. 바카라The sportscaster바카라s sentence is inaccurate. The spirit is laudable.바카라
Sometimes, scholars and activists say, events do call for Nazi comparisons, whether it바카라s the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 or the annual Independence Day march in Warsaw, Poland organized by extreme-right groups. But Nazi references have also been used to criticize fiscal policy (anti-tax activist Grover Nordquist once invoked the Holocaust when criticizing estate taxes) or insult rival heads of state (Saudi Arabia and Iran recently re-established diplomatic ties, six years after Prince Mohammed bin Salman referred to Iran바카라s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the 바카라new Hitler바카라).
On the Internet, Nazis have been mentioned so often, and for so long, that in 1990 author-attorney Mike Godwin formulated 바카라Godwin바카라s Law바카라 for them: 바카라As an online discussion continues, the probability of a reference or comparison to Hitler or Nazis approaches 1.바카라 They come up so often that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. has crafted a standard response, which it cited when contacted this week by The Associated Press.
바카라Nazism represented a singular evil that resulted in the murder of 6 million Jews and the persecution and deaths of millions of others for racial and political reasons,바카라 the statement reads.
바카라Comparing contemporary situations to Nazism is not only offensive to its victims, but it is also inaccurate and misrepresents both Holocaust history and the present,바카라 the statement says. 바카라The Holocaust should be remembered, studied, and understood so that we can learn its lessons; it should not be exploited for opportunistic purposes.바카라
A RANGE OF REFERENCES
Nazi references can be outlandish (actress Megan Fox once compared 바카라Transformers바카라 director Michael Bay to Hitler); self-evident (Kanye West, who years ago complained of being looked at like 바카라he was Hitler,바카라 declared in 2022 that there were 바카라good things about Hitler바카라); and strategic (Russian President Vladimir Putin listed 바카라denazification바카라 of Ukraine as one of the main goals of his 바카라special military operation,바카라 falsely alleging that there are Nazis in Ukraine바카라s leadership).
The Putin accusation isn바카라t new. It has been part of the Kremlin바카라s propaganda effort for years, used to justify a Moscow-backed insurgency in Ukraine바카라s east and bash Kyiv바카라s pro-Western government, which took over after a popular uprising ousted a pro-Russian president in 2014.
Analysts say the narrative appears to play well in Russia, where the Soviet army바카라s defense against Nazi Germany forces in World War II is still a fundamental part of the national identity. Officials and state media routinely use the term 바카라Nazi바카라 to describe the Ukrainian government and its army.
Moscow바카라s rhetoric has prompted some international backlash. Asked in an interview with an Italian news channel about Russian claims that it invaded Ukraine to 바카라denazify바카라 the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country바카라s president, were Jewish.
바카라So when they say, 바카라How can Nazification exist if we바카라re Jewish?바카라 In my opinion, Hitler also had Jewish origins, so it doesn바카라t mean absolutely anything. For some time we have heard from the Jewish people that the biggest antisemites were Jewish,바카라 Lavrov said, speaking to the station in Russian, dubbed over by an Italian translation.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Lavrov바카라s statement 바카라unforgivable and scandalous and a horrible historical error,바카라 adding that 바카라the government of Russia needs to apologize.바카라
In Israel, the Holocaust is seen as unique, and comparisons to the Nazis or Nazi Germany in the modern context are typically dismissed as cheapening the victims바카라 memory. But comparisons do happen. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has likened Iran to Nazi Germany, and ultra-Orthodox protesters call the police in Israel 바카라Nazis바카라 when they arrest people.
Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, says Lineker바카라s comparison is flawed. The Conservatives바카라 proposal, he says, is more like the British policy toward Holocaust survivors who tried to enter British Mandate-era Palestine after 1945 on boats such as the Exodus 바카라 and were turned back.
The larger issue, Zuroff says, is that people like Lineker cite the Holocaust to draw attention to their own issues. Perhaps, Zuroff says, the BBC figure 바카라should be punished by being put in a library and forced to read 10 accurate history books.바카라
