Hundreds of scholars called on Holocaust museum in DC to stop rejecting 'concentration camp' comparisons with US's detention of migrants
- Hundreds of scholars have signed a letter calling for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. to retract its June 24 statement rejecting comparisons between the conditions of migrant detention on the US-Mexico border to the concentrations camps of the Holocaust.
- It comes after a statement that the museum issued early last week in the wake of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's comments on migrant detention centers on the US-Mexico border, comparing them to "concentration camps."
- "The very core of Holocaust education is to alert the public to dangerous developments that facilitate human rights violations and pain and suffering," according to the letter scholars signed.
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Hundreds of scholars have signed a letter calling for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. to retract its June 24 statement that rejected comparisons between the conditions of migrant detention facilities on the US-Mexico border to the concentrations camps of the Holocaust.
Over 375 scholars have signed the letter by Tuesday afternoon, which was first published in the New York Review of Books. The scholars, many of whom have studied the Nazi genocide of Jews and other minorities during World War II, signaled their continuing support for the museum and its sponsorship for their academic work.
But they criticized the museum's "fundamentally ahistorical approach" and expressed concern that the museum's stance has "the potential to inflict severe damage on the Museum's ability to continue its role as a credible, leading global institution dedicated to Holocaust memory, Holocaust education, and research in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies."
The letter reads: "The very core of Holocaust education is to alert the public to dangerous developments that facilitate human rights violations and pain and suffering; pointing to similarities across time and space is essential for this task."
It comes after a statement that the museum issued early last week in the wake of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's comment comparing migrant detention centers on the US-Mexico border to "concentration camps."
Ocasio-Cortez ignited a storm of criticism, but she doubled down on her views and later said, "History will be kind to those who stood up to this injustice. So say what you will. Kids are dying and I'm not here to make people feel comfortable about that."
Republicans immediately blasted Ocasio-Cortez and she sparred with Rep. Liz Cheney of Wisconsin over Twitter. The congresswoman rejected House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's demand that she apologize "not only to the nation but to the world" for "not understanding history."
More than a dozen members of Congress, including Ocasio-Cortez, visited two Texas border facilities on Monday and described living conditions there as "unfit to hold adults or children," the New York Times reported. Ocasio-Cortez later accused Customs and Border Protection agents of forcing migrant women to drink out of toilets during their detention.