Objections to elected officials comparing current government actions to atrocities of Nazi Germany

By Jeff Zalasky, JCRC Chair

I strongly disagree with recent actions and statements, made by congressional and state elected representatives, that equate current governmental actions on vaccinations and mask policies to atrocities committed by the Nazi German government in the 1930s and 1940s.

It is not uncommon for people who disagree with a governmental action to find a parallel between it and Nazi Germany actions. Their purpose is to take an easy shortcut in promoting their position by comparing it to something so broadly viewed as reprehensible that their position must obviously be correct.

The problem with this technique is that first, there is simply nothing comparable to the atrocities committed by the Nazis, and second, those who suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the Nazis, notably, the Jewish community, find equating their loss to comparatively trivial matters, deeply offensive.

Some of our political leaders have recklessly and inappropriately compared efforts to convince people to get the COVID vaccine or wear masks to what happened to Jewish people in Europe during the Holocaust.

Washington State Representative Jim Walsh wore a Star of David to protest COVID-19 mandates.

U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said on Twitter that vaccinated people get a vaccination logo just like the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear a gold star.

Recently, Anchorage Mayor David Bronson defended the wearing of Nazi-style Stars of David to protest mask mandates during a public meeting.

These actions and comments are not only inappropriate, offensive, demeaning and outrageous, they are particularly egregious coming from our political leaders. Those political leaders need to be educated about what happened to Jewish people during WWII.

The Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933. They believed that the Germans belonged to a race that was “superior” to all others. They also claimed that Jews were an “inferior” race and were a threat to Germany.

Between 1941 and 1944, Nazi Germany and its allies deported Jews from areas under their control to be imprisoned in concentration camps. To identify the Jews to be rounded up, transported in boxcars and murdered, the Nazis required Jews to wear a Star of David. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazis and their collaborators systematically murdered 6 million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population, to further the “Final Solution” — the Nazi plan to annihilate European Jews.

These reckless comparisons equating our government’s attempts to convince people to get vaccinated and wear masks, to shield them from getting sick and possibly dying, to the Nazi’s murder of 6 million Jews is reprehensible.

Notwithstanding political affiliation, all people of good conscience should voice outrage at anyone who promotes these comparisons to Nazi atrocities.