SPONSORED FEATURE
THE SA JEWISH BOARD OF DEPUTIES
THE HITLER TREND
Using provocative terms from the
Holocaust to show hatred, make a point,
and express outrage
BY WENDY KAHN
30 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 86
HATERS OF JEWISH PEOPLE HAVE SELECTED ONE OF
OUR MOST PAINFUL MEMORIES AND SENSITIVE WOUNDS
TO HURT AND INTIMIDATE OUR COMMUNITY.
To add to these examples, organisations
such as the Young Communist League of
South Africa (YCLSA) recurrently made
statements comparing the SAJBD to Nazis and comparing Israel’s actions to the
Holocaust, and protesters outside the
SAZF Solidarity event at Huddle Park
called to “bring back Hitler”.
Hashtag Hitler began trending on Facebook and Twitter. And that was just the
beginning.
Haters of Jewish people have selected
one of our most painful memories and
sensitive wounds to hurt and intimidate
our community.
Hitler, Nazis and the Holocaust are
tools to show hatred, and are becoming
utilised as a way of making a point and expressing outrage.
Following on an incident last year concerning students from the University of the
More recently, Mcebo Dlamini, the then
president of the Wits Student Representative Council (SRC), expressed his admiration for Adolf Hitler in a Facebook post,
and added later in a Wits Vuvuzela interview: “What I love about Hitler is his charisma and his capabilities to organise people. We need more leaders of such calibre. I
love Adolf Hitler.” There were many further
offensive Nazi-related postings by Dlamini.
The SAJBD has lodged a complaint with
the SA Human Rights Commission.
We can never allow elements of the horrific suffering during the Holocaust to become a tool to pepper up our speech.
Words like Nazi, Holocaust, Hitler, Swastika and concentration camps need to remain in the lexicon of suffering and not
become colloquial adjectives utilised by
hate-filled individuals trying to make a
point. JL
PHOTOGRAPHS: SUPPLIED
DURING OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE LAST YEAR,
we read via Facebook, in a message illustrated by a photograph of Hitler: “Yes man
you were right… I could have killed all the
Jews but I left some of them to let you
know why I was killing them.” The SAJBD
lodged a complaint on this posting, which
is currently being handled by the SA Human Rights Commission.
Unfortunately, the horse had bolted and
this disturbing message had gone viral, unleashing a tirade of Hitler-themed antiSemitism on social media websites. One
man posted: “I wish Hitler wiped them all
out!” and another person, posting under a
fictitious profile, said:
“We will miss u Hitler. But will finish your
job great man.” Yet other anonymous personalities directed tweets to several leaders
in our community: “I wish #Hitler was alive
and his gas chambers still in use” and “#Hitler did a sterling job# gas chambers needed”.
Facebook posts further suggested: “You
should go back to the concentration camps.”
These are just a sample of many more hideous and disturbing posts that came to our
attention during