
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Holocaust survivors, Jewish advocacy groups and Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday by condemning anti-vaccine activists who likened Covid-19 response measures to the Holocaust and comparing healthcare officials to Nazis.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Protesters against Covid-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazism fuel anti-Semitism and contribute to trivialization of the Holocaust, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-sees-holocaust-tropes-covid-protests-fuelling-anti-semitism-2022-01-27/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>&nbsp;published Thursday by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry.</p>



<p>Margot Friedlaender, who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt concentration camp and whose mother and brother were killed at Auschwitz,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/holocaust-survivor-decries-abuse-yellow-star-covid-protests-2022-01-27/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;Thursday she was incredulous and outraged to see “the new enemies of democracy” presenting themselves as victims by wearing yellow Stars of David like the badges the Nazis compelled Jews to wear.</p>



<p>Holocaust survivors Joan Salter, Estelle Nadel and Gabriella Karin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/holocaust-remembrance-day-hitlers-victims-damn-covid-19-comparisons-2022-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;<em>Insider</em>&nbsp;that using Holocaust imagery to protest vaccines was an insult to both living and deceased Holocaust victims.</p>



<p>The yellow star badge has been used by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/washington-lawmaker-apologizes-wearing-star-david-protest-covid-mandates-n1272962" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rep. Jim Walsh</a>&nbsp;(R-N.Y.), the&nbsp;<a href="https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/jewish-federation-of-tulsa-calls-out-state-gop-for-using-star-of-david-in-vaccine/article_d2d38e28-f16e-11eb-b414-6f6fc6858b69.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oklahoma Republican Party</a>&nbsp;and by protesters in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/09/30/appalling-scholars-say-holocaust-symbol-has-no-place-in-anchorage-mask-debate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alaska</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kansas-vaccine-mandate-holocaust-republicans-b1957233.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kansas</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/16/jeffrey-dinowitz-antisemitic-protest-vaccine/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York</a>&nbsp;to suggest that unvaccinated people and Holocaust victims have been similarly oppressed.</p>



<p>Comparisons of Covid-19 measures to Nazism have been made by U.S. Reps.&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/WarrenDavidson/status/1481246046705655818?s=20&amp;t=2R93NIJjQ6BB3w7U7CylYw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Warren Davidson</a>&nbsp;(R-Ohio) and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/02/1069753102/twitter-bans-marjorie-taylor-greenes-personal-account-over-covid-misinformation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a>&nbsp;(R-Ga.), by Republican Washington state Rep.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/30/wa-state-rep-sorry-wearing-yellow-star-protest-covid-mandates/7815285002/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jim Walsh</a>, by Republican Idaho state Rep.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/covid19/idaho-rep-heather-scott-calls-governor-little-hitler-compares-nonessential-workers-to-holocaust-victims/article_1b70f69d-769d-5266-9551-098f7b8f5eb4.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heather Scott</a>, by Fox News&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tucker-carlson-compares-vaccine-mandates-to-nazi-medical-experiments-2022-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hosts</a>&nbsp;Tucker Carlson and Lara Logan, and by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/01/25/rfk-jr-apologizes-for-anne-frank-comparison-at-anti-vax-rally-as-wife-cheryl-hines-calls-comment-reprehensible/?sh=327e812534d4">suggested</a>&nbsp;that modern Americans opposed to vaccines were more persecuted than Anne Frank.</p>



<p>Some anti-Semitic agitators have taken the opposite angle, distributing <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/antisemitic-flyers-found-neighborhoods-least-3-cities-rcna13500" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">flyers</a> Sunday in Denver, San Francisco and Miami claiming that the Covid-19 crisis is the result of a Jewish conspiracy—a claim echoed by online agitators, the Diaspora Affairs Ministry reported.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="993" height="558" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/0x0.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-54094" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/0x0.jpeg 993w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/0x0-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/0x0-768x432.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 993px) 100vw, 993px" /><figcaption>Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears in a video for Children&#8217;s Health Defense, his anti-vaccine nonprofit.<br> <br><small>CHILDREN&#8217;S HEALTH DEFENSE</small></figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>As imagery from liberated concentration camps spread around the world, Nazism grew into an ahistorical symbol for pure evil,&nbsp;<a href="https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=1223&amp;context=open_access_dissertations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;University of Massachusetts Amherst researcher Brian Scott Johnson. The Nazis and Adolf Hitler have proven convenient symbols for people wishing to vilify their political opponents, from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/fl-jj-groups-dallas-poliyicians-trump-hitler-20181024-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45488605" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nelson Mandela</a>. In 1990, this tendency was codified by attorney Mike Godwin as&nbsp;<a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/09/no-nazi-comparisons-sounds-like-something-hitler-would-say.ars" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Godwin’s law</a>, which states that the longer an online discussion continues, the more probable a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler becomes. According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-godwin-godwins-law-20180624-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Godwin</a>, the first person to fulfill Godwin’s law has lost the argument.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“Covid brought Holocaust trivialization to a summit,&#8221; Dani Dayan, chairman of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/culture/1643311013-israel-report-links-anti-covid-protests-and-antisemitism" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;the i24NEWS TV network.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p><a href="https://holocaust.combatantisemitism.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1.2 million.</a>&nbsp;That’s how many online discussions took place from 2020 to 2021 linking Covid-19 to the Holocaust, according to the nonprofit Combat Antisemitism Movement. Of 63.7 million posts, comments and other engagements identified, 56.9 million took place in English.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h2>



<p>International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place on January 27, the day Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Red Army.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/01/25/rfk-jr-apologizes-for-anne-frank-comparison-at-anti-vax-rally-as-wife-cheryl-hines-calls-comment-reprehensible/?sh=327e812534d4">“RFK Jr. Apologizes For ‘Anne Frank’ Comparison At Anti-Vax Rally—As Wife Cheryl Hines Calls Comment ‘Reprehensible’”</a> (Forbes)</p>



<p><em><strong>By Zachary Snowdon Smith, Forbes Staff</strong></em></p>


Tag: Anti Vaxxers

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Holocaust Survivors Condemn Anti-Vaccine Protesters’ Use Of Nazi Imagery