The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland issued a statement on Monday amid an ongoing debate between U.S. lawmakers over whether the Holocaust offers lessons for contemporary events such as those at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“When we look at Auschwitz we see the end of the process,” the museum said in a tweet on Monday afternoon.
“It's important to remember that the Holocaust actually did not start from gas chambers,” the museum continued. “This hatred gradually developed from words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence.”
When we look at Auschwitz we see the end of the process. It's important to remember that the Holocaust actually did not start from gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed from words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanisation & escalating violence. — Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) November 26, 2018
The tweet came hours Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamPence, Kushner huddle with Senate GOP on criminal justice reform GM layoffs show Congress played Americans with corporate tax cut Auschwitz museum: Important to remember Holocaust 'did not start from gas chambers' MORE (S.C.) slammed Democratic Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) for comparing recent events along the southern border involving migrants to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.
"I recommend she take a tour of the Holocaust Museum in DC," Graham tweeted Monday. "Might help her better understand the differences between the Holocaust and the caravan in Tijuana."
Graham was replying to a tweet Ocasio-Cortez shared over the weekend, in which she wrote, "Asking to be considered a refugee & applying for status isn’t a crime."
"It wasn’t for Jewish families fleeing Germany," she continued. "It wasn’t for targeted families fleeing Rwanda. It wasn’t for communities fleeing war-torn Syria. And it isn’t for those fleeing violence in Central America."
Ocasio-Cortez also responded to Graham’s tweet later on Monday night, in which she told Graham “the point of such a treasured museum is to bring its lessons to present day.”
“This administration has jailed children and violated human rights,” she added. “Perhaps we should stop pretending that authoritarianism + violence is a historical event instead of a growing force.”
Ocasio-Cortez has since found support from many on Twitter in making her case, including from actor Ben Stiller, who countered Graham’s suggestion with his own.
“Just to add into this, I would say that @LindseyGrahamSC go visit Guatemala as I did earlier this year and talk to the families fleeing the terror of targeted gang violence an unlivable poverty rate to understand the refugee experience,” Stiller said in a tweet on Monday night.
“These people are fleeing for their lives,” he added.
HumanaKAT on November 27th, 2018 at 23:32 UTC »
It’s also important to remember that wanting people to enter your country through legal means doesn’t make you unreasonable, racist, or a nazi.
Many countries require people to meet certain criteria to become citizens (I.e. make a certain amount of money, be outstanding applicants, etc.), and while seeking asylum is not the same, denying people residency is common practice throughout the world.
EmergencyTaco on November 27th, 2018 at 21:22 UTC »
I'd like to share a passage from Milton Mayer's 1955 book "They Thought They Were Free". This passage explores exactly how the German people transitioned from frustrated citizens in 1933 to full-blown Nazis in 1945. Here's the thing: changes like that don't happen overnight, it takes quite a long time. The issue is that the change is so gradual, and each time things get 'worse' it's in small enough increments that people are not compelled to take action until it's too late. I urge people to look at the similarities between this passage and what is happening in the US right now. This isn't to say that Donald Trump is the next Hitler or anything, it's simply meant to draw attention to how far a people can slip when they let each 'small issue' go unpunished. The passage:
-Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-1945
autotldr on November 27th, 2018 at 20:03 UTC »
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 83%. (I'm a bot)
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