Some thing is wrong with Medved
Poor Michael Medved is upset about a memorial in Berlin to the 10,000 homosexuals killed during the Holocaust. Medved writes:
This commemoration follows a longstanding, misleading attempt to depict homosexuals as prime targets of Hitler. In fact, even historical material released with the memorial noted only “an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 gay men deported to concentration camps” –and by no means all of them were killed. While homosexuals surely outnumbered the less-than-one-percent of the German population that was Jewish, Jewish victims of Nazi death camps outnumbered estimated gay victims by more than 500 to 1. Persecution of any group deserves condemnation and remembrance, but it’s wrong to exaggerate the extent of victimization for politically correct P.R. purposes.Over at Reason, Radley Balko adds his two cents to Medved's pointless rant:
The infamous Paragraph 175 of the Reichstag Code also allowed for the castration of thousands more homosexuals. But let's have a look at this memorial that Medved says is indicative of efforts to "depict homosexuals as prime targets of Hitler," over Jews. Here's an aerial shot of the main Holocaust memorial in Berlin. It consists of 2,711 stone slabs. For comparison, note the size of the memorial next to the people walking around the outside of it.Balko shows a picture of the actual Holocaust monument and the monument to homosexuals killed in the Holocaust, which as Balko notes, "consists of a single concrete slab located across the street."
Comments
Actually, Medved and his opponents are being too narrow. Jews are not the only victims of antisemitism. (Christopher Hitchens makes this point in one of his essays in Love, Poverty, and War.) The Nazis had a special hatred of the Jews. However, the homosexuals and others who died in the Shoah were also victims of antisemitism. As an Orthodox Jew, Medved should realize that the essence of Judaism is not victimhood. (In fact, one of the motto's of Medved's show is, Everyday we are proud to proclaim, 'I am not a victim.'.) The essence of Judaism, instead, is the immutable laws revealed at Sinai. This is why antisemitism threatens all decent people. It is a rebellion against God's laws.
Posted by: Robbie | June 13, 2008 10:11 AM
However, the homosexuals and others who died in the Shoah were also victims of antisemitism.
They were guilty of being homosexuals. Though the overwhelming number of individuals killed during the Holocaust were murdered because of being Jewish, Nazis also persecuted homosexuals, communists, among others.
Posted by: Jason | June 13, 2008 12:04 PM
Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. When I wrote, "the homosexuals and others who died in the Shoah were also victims of antisemitism," I didn't mean that they were victims because they were Jewish. I understand that the Nazis killed people who were homosexuals, communists, and others who were not Jewish.
What I meant was that non-Jews and Jews are both victims of antisemitism. It is being too narrow to say that only Jews are victims of antisemitism. That's what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.
Posted by: Robbie | June 13, 2008 02:25 PM
Some argue that the Nazis used existing laws against homosexual behavior and added new laws in order to persecute political opponents. Medved may have this in mind when he argues that activists exaggerate the extent of [gay] victimization and that homosexuals were not prime targets of Hitler.
Some historians argue that much of the Nazi leadership had no problem with homosexual behavior and that some of the Nazi leaders were themselves homosexuals.
http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/lively.html
Posted by: Robbie | June 14, 2008 01:20 AM