Coronavirus: How German protesters are trivializing Nazi-era persecution
This weekend will see fresh protests in Germany against measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The rallies have provided a backdrop for demonstrators to compare themselves to victims of Nazi persecution.
At one demonstration last weekend, a young woman, who introduced herself as "Jana from Kassel" drew a shocking parallel: "I feel," she said, "like Sophie Scholl because I've been active in the resistance movement for months." Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans founded the White Rose group in 1942. Together with other members of the group they were arrested and executed after being caught distributing anti-Nazi leaflets.
Michael Blume, Anti-Semitism Commissioner in the southern state of Baden-WĂĽrttemberg, told DW how historically unfounded he believes the comparison to be: "In an honest comparison, the woman would immediately have had to concede that Sophie Scholl would never have been able to take part in an officially-registered demonstration. Indeed, a demonstration under police protection."
At another gathering, a girl of just eleven explained how in response to a ban on large social gatherings, she apparently celebrated her birthday in secret in order to avoid being snitched on by the neighbors. "I felt like Anne Frank when she had to stay quiet as a mouse to avoid being exposed."
And some protestors have held up placards reading: "Anne Frank would have been on our side."
Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who, together with her family, spent months in hiding in German-occupied Amsterdam before she was betrayed and later murdered in a concentration camp.
These are just two examples of how opponents of coronavirus restrictions have instrumentalized history by drawing false comparisons between themselves and victims of Nazi persecution and terror. Protesters have also worn Stars of David — like those that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis — carrying the wording: "ungeimpft" ("not vaccinated.")
Men in concentration camp uniforms were seen holding up signs reading "vaccination makes you free" — a cynical reference to the notorious "work makes you free" sign at the entrance to Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
Comparisons of this kind are intended to suggest that restrictions on people's fundamental rights imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic might lead to a 'corona dictatorship' that will turn people into victims in just the same way as the persecution and annihilation carried out by the Nazis," says historian Jens-Christian Wagner. He adds: "It all makes an appalling mockery and a trivialization of the crimes committed by the Nazis."
More at:
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-h...-trivializing-nazi-era-persecution/a-55753236
This weekend will see fresh protests in Germany against measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic. The rallies have provided a backdrop for demonstrators to compare themselves to victims of Nazi persecution.
At one demonstration last weekend, a young woman, who introduced herself as "Jana from Kassel" drew a shocking parallel: "I feel," she said, "like Sophie Scholl because I've been active in the resistance movement for months." Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans founded the White Rose group in 1942. Together with other members of the group they were arrested and executed after being caught distributing anti-Nazi leaflets.
Michael Blume, Anti-Semitism Commissioner in the southern state of Baden-WĂĽrttemberg, told DW how historically unfounded he believes the comparison to be: "In an honest comparison, the woman would immediately have had to concede that Sophie Scholl would never have been able to take part in an officially-registered demonstration. Indeed, a demonstration under police protection."
At another gathering, a girl of just eleven explained how in response to a ban on large social gatherings, she apparently celebrated her birthday in secret in order to avoid being snitched on by the neighbors. "I felt like Anne Frank when she had to stay quiet as a mouse to avoid being exposed."
And some protestors have held up placards reading: "Anne Frank would have been on our side."
Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who, together with her family, spent months in hiding in German-occupied Amsterdam before she was betrayed and later murdered in a concentration camp.
These are just two examples of how opponents of coronavirus restrictions have instrumentalized history by drawing false comparisons between themselves and victims of Nazi persecution and terror. Protesters have also worn Stars of David — like those that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis — carrying the wording: "ungeimpft" ("not vaccinated.")
Men in concentration camp uniforms were seen holding up signs reading "vaccination makes you free" — a cynical reference to the notorious "work makes you free" sign at the entrance to Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
Comparisons of this kind are intended to suggest that restrictions on people's fundamental rights imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic might lead to a 'corona dictatorship' that will turn people into victims in just the same way as the persecution and annihilation carried out by the Nazis," says historian Jens-Christian Wagner. He adds: "It all makes an appalling mockery and a trivialization of the crimes committed by the Nazis."
More at:
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-h...-trivializing-nazi-era-persecution/a-55753236
