UPDATE: Ombudsman: Blade reference to Nazis “did not refer to Holocaust”
Written by Kristen Rapin | | krapin@toledofreepress.comCriticism is being directed at a Dec. 27 Blade editorial, “Dissension in GOP,” which made reference to the “hijack” of the Dec. 21 Lucas County GOP central committee meeting and compared the event as one that makes “Images of Hitler’s Brown Shirts breaking up Communist political meetings in pre-World War II Germany dance in our heads.”
Members of national and local groups found the reference to the German Nazis disrespectful to Holocaust victims.
“Using Nazi associations in U.S. political discourse is inappropriate. It minimizes the evils of Nazism, disrespects the memory of the victims of Nazi Germany — the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust and the millions of other who perished under Nazi persecution — and it does not help us understand the past or the present,” said Andy Hollinger, spokesperson for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Nina Sundell, regional director for Ohio, Kentucky and Allegheny region of the Anti-Defamation League, an agency working to stop the defamation of Jewish people, said referencing the Nazis “undermines the historical truth of the holocaust.” The reference adds nothing to the political debate, she said.
No writer is credited for the editorial. The Blade listed its editorial board in its Dec. 27 issue as David Schutt, editorial director; and associate editors Rose Russell, Kendall Downs and Dan Simpson. John Block is The Blade’s publisher and editor in chief.
Jeff Simpson, who claims he was chosen by vote Dec. 21 to replace Jon Stainbrook as Lucas County GOP chairman, said the reference is unfortunate.
“It’s a shame that the word Nazi is used to discredit people politically. It’s used to get away from the real issue. Bush was called a Nazi for invading Iraq. Obama is a Nazi for his stance on health care. Referencing Nazis doesn’t bring anything to the table; it’s no longer about the issue then, it’s about name calling,” Simpson said.
Paul Hoag, who was chosen as central committee chair, was surprised by the reference.
“I was shocked and extremely disappointed in them. What can you say when it’s fair political dissent and you’re being compared to Nazis? It’s off the wall,” Hoag said.
Hoag said that the ‘coup’ was never a personal attack against Stainbrook. The event was about changing leadership to represent a different “philosophical and conservative view.”
Lynn Olman, member of the board of elections and Lucas County GOP central committee, was named throughout the editorial. Olman was upset with the Nazi reference and what he described as a “continuation of incorrect facts.”
“I think that is one of the most outrageous comments I have heard in my life. I think it is the lowest, most inaccurate piece of journalism I’ve read in my entire life,” Olman said. “The inaccuracies are glaring and they know they are inaccurate yet they continue to publish it.”
Chris Myers, a central committee member present at the Dec. 21 meeting where the disputed vote took place, thought the editorial was inaccurate and “inflammatory.”
“It couldn’t be anything further from the truth. The reference to Nazis says more about the writer and their impressions of the meeting then actually what happened,” Myers said. “When I read it the first thing that came to my mind was Godwin’s Rule: The first person to bring up Nazis has nothing further to say in an argument.”
The editorial is protected under the First Amendment, said Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
“Free speech, especially in the political realm, should be covered by a very big blanket,” Link said. “We don’t see protecting the rights of minorities as limiting speech.”
Jack Lessenberry, The Blade ombudsman, replied in an e-mail, “My comment is that the only thing that is clear to me about this story is that [Toledo Free Press Staff Writer] Kristen Rapin knows nothing about history. The Blade editorial did not refer to the Holocaust. It referred to what Nazi street gangs did to Communist and SPD activists in Germany in the last years of the Weimar Republic. Granted, I have a master’s degree in Eastern European history, speak German and Russian and have reported from Berlin. But she has an obligation to get the facts right.
“Incidentally, the love of my life is Jewish, and was the education director of her temple, and the Block family was originally Jewish, so any accusations of insensitively to the Holocaust are patently ridiculous.”
Members of The Blade editorial department were reached but no comment was made.
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COMMENTARY: Tim Higgins: “Careful References”
Incidentally, the love of my life is Jewish, and was the education director of her temple, and the Block family was originally Jewish, so any accusations of insensitively to the Holocaust are patently ridiculous.
us.
Free speech is sacred, we should not let certain people silence the rest for that is supremacism.
go to http://www.umunu.com
communism was much worse than nazism, mor people died at the hands of the commissars. 95 % of top commissars were of the same group
This comment was posted on December 28th, 2009 at 6:34 pmI, for one, am sick and tired of hearing the jews whine endlessly.
This comment was posted on December 28th, 2009 at 6:54 pmThis holohoax and nazi thing is being over used. People are finally starting not to care. The Jews have been the cause of most human suffering for the last 5,000 years. The goyim is starting to understand the Jewish tricks….the awakening has begun!!
Too many people out there in this country with such sensitive attitudes and feeling of words! Giving one small short sentence of an example is not saying one is one or showing disrespect for other people!
This comment was posted on December 28th, 2009 at 9:42 pmMaybe many need Sensitivity Therapy!
““It’s a shame that the word Nazi is used to discredit people politically. It’s used to get away from the real issue. Bush was called a Nazi for invading Iraq. Obama is a Nazi for his stance on health care. Referencing Nazis doesn’t bring anything to the table; it’s no longer about the issue then, it’s about name calling,” Simpson said.”
Yes, but, but it is the in thing to do! When one cannot debate, lace the comments with non-sense and emotions.
Look around at the level of discourse in the trenches and highways and byways, the leaders do little to reign in the minions.
This comment was posted on December 29th, 2009 at 11:03 amDemonrats, are so closely matched up with Nazi’s, it is apparent that the Yellow Blade , is historically and factually deluded !! What party murders the completely innocent like the Nazi’s did ? ( think abortions, Jews, etc.) Which party, like the Nazi’s ,demands ALL weapons be turned over to the government ?( think: Nazi Pelosi ) Which party, like the Nazi’s , desired UNIVERSAL health care , to delve out benefits to the LOYAL Nazi’s and their supporters ? Which party, like the Nazi’s , drove citizens away from their homes ( think Toledo’s mass exodus ) ? Which party, like the Nazi’s NATIONALIZES , key industries for their own wicked designs ? Which party, like the Nazi’s, gave swift punishment to those who didn’t comply to newly enacted laws doing away with basic civil rights ? ( think PRISON if you don’t buy into ObaMao-scare ) Yes indeed, the history classes attended by the writer of this delusional piece of skat, must have attended classes taught by ObaMao’s own historical mentor…the cop killer / bank robber / bomber of a Judges home… American own lovable terrorist… Bill Ayers !!! Oh, Prof. Bill Ayers !!
This comment was posted on December 29th, 2009 at 12:10 pmYet it’s okay to support those “tea baggers” with their crude signs equating Obama with the Nazis?
What a joke.
This comment was posted on December 29th, 2009 at 1:20 pmLemme see if I got this correct.
One media outlet is criticizing or commenting on another media outlet, over an expression of opinion of an internal squabble in a political party?
And then we have commentary, protected and encouraged, by the First Amendment, in the media and other outlets.
Where is the news in any of this?
This comment was posted on December 29th, 2009 at 8:01 pmI can hardly stomach reading the Blade and thoroughly enjoy the Free Press, but you guys are REALLY pushing it on this one. Your obsession with exposing the Blade with a “gotcha!” moment is bordering on pathetic. I would love it if you guys replaced the Blade as the daily newspaper in Toledo, but you should start steering toward the high road for credibility’s sake.
Besides the fact that the word “Nazi” was not used by the Blade as Jeff Simpson is quoted as saying, the comparison was how meetings were broken up, not about murdering people. It was undoubtedly a stupid comparison by the Blade, but as a news outlet that likes to share your opinion as well, I’d think you would agree with the Blade’s right to freedom of speech.
This “story” reminds me a lot of Marge Schott’s comments about Hitler in the 90s that essentially forced her to sell her privately owned baseball team. As an admittedly pro-business paper, would you support a person being forced out of business for making a stupid comment? The only reason you made this a story and called anti-defamation organizations all over the country for comments is because you hate the Blade.
I reluctantly have to agree with the Blade’s Lessenberry on this one. Just because somebody says the name “Hitler” doesn’t mean they’re disrespecting Holocaust victims, or Jews, or anybody else. Most people know the Blade has problems. It shows in their rapid readership decline. I’d encourage the Free Press to let them crash and burn on their own. Like Mama always told you, “Don’t stoop to their level.”
This comment was posted on December 30th, 2009 at 10:32 amThe news is that the Blade and the Toledo Free Press hate each other. Both are using Nazis and the Holocaust in an offensive way to further their petty rivalry.
This comment was posted on December 30th, 2009 at 11:38 am