In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington quietly removed from its website educational resources about American racism and canceled a workshop about the “fragility of democracy.”
The changes, which have not been previously reported, came as Trump cracked down on what he called “corrosive ideology” at the Smithsonian Institution, demanding a slew of alterations at the world’s largest museum network to more closely align its content with his worldview. They also coincided with the administration’s efforts to remove content related to diversity, equity and inclusion from federal websites.
Unlike his posture toward the Smithsonian, Trump has not publicly commented on the USHMM’s content or publicly called for any modifications. But two former museum employees who left amid the changes told POLITICO they believed the museum was altering its content preemptively, so as to not draw unwanted negative attention from the Trump administration. Both were granted anonymity due to fear of professional retaliation.
canceled a workshop about the “fragility of democracy.”
And yet I feel like I have learned something about the fragility of democracy. Curious.
Nothing honors the memory of those lost to that atrocity quite like appeasing an authoritarian dictatorship
It’s so incredibly disheartening to learn the heroes are librarians in Tennessee and not the people in charge of vast swathes of cultural heritage.
You should be heartened that regular everyday people are resisting. Blind trust in hierarchical institutions is how we endlessly ride the atrocity rollercoaster.
That part is definitely heartening, the people entrusted with serious responsibility lining up to take turns eating shit part isn’t.
This IMMEDIATELY reminded me of how the Jewish representative (not sure if he was a rabbi) meekly handed over a fully documented list of all registered jews in The Netherlands (or was it Belgium?) very early in that country’s Nazi occupation in WW2.
Granted it is not the same but for the holocaust museum the signs should be clearly visible…
Do Not Obey In Advance.
canceled a workshop about the “fragility of democracy.”
Tbf, this is a good way to educate people about the fragility of democracy.
Praxis, if you will
I loved the idea of a place to keep the memories of the horror of the Holocaust alive so it wouldn’t happen again. And then it happened again, quite publicly, and directly perpetrated by people who were the descendants of those victims and keepers of those memories. I still love the mission, but I fear that at least for now, it is a failure.
Edit: see the response to my post for an insightful comment
and directly perpetrated by people who were the descendants of those victims and keepers of those memories
Not quite. Israel is predominantly populated by Jews of Middle Eastern or Eastern European descent who had nothing to do with the Holocaust. There are plenty of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, but Israel was built and remains predominantly shaped by people who didn’t experience the Holocaust. In fact, quite ironically, Israel basically stole and keeps stealing a lot of Holocaust survivors’ reparation money.
Learning this pleases me. Thank you. The idea that the victims’ families, at least, have not lost those lessons gives me some satisfaction that humanity hasn’t gone full on stupid.
Part of me doesn’t like that this was done at all, however it may have been far more gutting had the administration put their grimy fingers on the process.
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