S.C. Republican Misuses Holocaust Rhetoric
Listed in: Other Domestic Policy, NJDC News, Press Releases
Washington, DC: Former Congressman Mark Sanford, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in South Carolina, invoked references to concentration camps on Tuesday while speaking about his agricultural background. Sanford stated, "Over the course of my life, every summer I was in a concentration camp for children on that farm, whether it was chasing cattle or baling hay." Sanford was addressing members of the Palmetto AgriBusiness Council, according to the Associated Press. He is running against incumbent Governor Jim Hodges (D) in November.
"It is most inappropriate to compare life on the farm with life and death in concentration camps," stated National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira N. Forman. "Especially in our community, the words 'concentration camp' evoke the memories of 6 million Jews - and more than one million children - who were incarcerated and eventually slaughtered.
"Mr. Sanford must understand that his flippant invocation of concentration camp rhetoric is wrong. While agricultural work can be arduous and even dangerous at times, it of course cannot compare to the pain, misery, and death suffered by concentration camp victims in the past. To compare the two only trivializes the atrocities committed in these camps.
"We trust that Mr. Sanford's word choice was inadvertent, and not the product of any indifference towards true victims of concentration camps. We hope that, in the future, he will be more sensitive and depict his agricultural background with more appropriate analogies."
