"our future is Germany's history"
People are noticing.
Donald Trump's actions revive memories of Nazis: Andrew Grossman (Opinion)
Migrants on a dinghy arrive at the southeastern Greek island of Kos after crossing from Turkey last August. Andrew Grossman writes that Donald Trump's extreme anti-Syrian and anti-Muslim campaign pronouncements stir memories of the Nazis. (Alexander Zemlianichenko, Associated Press, File)
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 By Guest Columnist/cleveland.com The Plain Dealer
on December 15, 2015 at 6:56 AM, updated December 15, 2015 at 6:57 AM
I am one of the refugees Ishaan Tharoor wrote about in his Washington Post article reprinted Nov. 18, 2015, in The Plain Dealer. When I reflect on Donald Trump's proposal to keep Syrian-born immigrants out of the United States, or to force all American Muslims to be placed in a database, I am reminded of something that happened when I was 5 years old.
When my parents left Prague in 1939, all their worldly possessions were in two huge steamer trunks. They stored these trunks in a spare room in our apartment. I loved playing with all the magical objects I found in those trunks.
One day as I removed items from a trunk, I burrowed down until I found a man's formal jacket in the bottom. I pulled it out and ran into the kitchen, excited with my most recent discovery. I was eager to show my mother the beautiful jacket I had found. I was certain it was my father's.
I yelled out to my mother and held up the jacket to show her. When she saw it, her face froze in horror. I started to cry. I was confused because I thought I did something wrong. My mother took the jacket from me and held me until I stopped crying.
She went to a drawer in the kitchen and brought out a pair of scissors. Carefully, she cut the yellow Jewish star off the sleeve and burned it in the incinerator.
Years later I asked her about it. When they left Prague they took a train through Germany to France. My parents had to wear their stars as long as they were in Germany. My mother thought she had discarded that filthy reminder that they were not quite human as far as the Nazis were concerned.
The people running for the Republican nomination for the presidency are so desperate to win the White House they pretend to be leaders, even though they are the ones who caused the mess we are currently in. They behave like a clueless bunch of frat boys who are out of touch with the average voter's reality. They never learn from their mistakes. Nothing good can come from Republican politics as they are practiced today.
Who can be encouraged by Trump's behavior when he stands in front of a large audience and essentially blesses the beating and expulsion of protesters from his rallies? Some reporters have called Trump a populist. Historically, populist politicians did not regularly have hecklers and protesters ejected from their meetings. They argued with them. The fact that Trump is happy to see protesters ejected from his audiences is a clear sign he is intolerant of anyone who disagrees with him.
The fact that he, and the other GOP candidates, want to virtually lock up all Muslims (and anyone else who disagrees with them) is disgraceful. The fact that Trump and Ben Carson continue to draw large crowds wherever they go is scary.
His proposal has been denounced by politicians in both political parties.
If the people who make up these crowds think Trump's idea will lead to more security, think again. We could institute these boneheaded plans and still face a tragedy similar to what occurred in Paris. Does anyone really think registering all American Muslims will stop a terrorist from sneaking over the border?
I have only one question for Trump: Do you propose to identify all Muslims with a symbol of their faith on their clothes?
As for Carson, one who has studied history for over 50 years cannot help but notice his reference to dogs in one of his more recent speeches.
The dog, in the context in which he mentioned it, is a deliberate insult to anyone of any faith. It is a shame that a man who pretends to be a healer, a member of the African-American minority, supposedly an intelligent human being, stoops to such low name calling.
Perhaps Donald and he would like to wear yellow crosses on the sleeves of their clothing.
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