A school board member in Tipp City gave a nazi salute and said “Sieg Heil” during a regular meeting this month. The nazi saluter Anne Zakkour said in a statement the day after the incident “My reaction last night was symbolic and a sarcastic gesture of submission to a board officer acting as a dictator.”
WYSO reached out to Cathy Gardner, the CEO of theJewish Federation of Greater Dayton, to see how her organization is responding to Zakkour's actions.
Transcript (edited lightly for length and clarity)
Chris Welter: Cathy, I know a number of people have reached out to your organization, the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, since the incident occurred at a Tipp City school board meeting earlier this month. What have you been telling folks who have been reaching out?
Cathy Gardner: Under Hitler's direction, 12 million people were killed, over half of whom were Jewish—and it was a systematic genocide.
"Sieg Heil" is actually is translated as Hail Victory and was appropriated to be connected during World War Two with Germany's desire to rule rule all of Europe.
As a Jewish person, I am in a group that is fully aware and sensitive to the horrors of this history. I've been to concentration camps, I've studied what occurred, and I deeply feel the horrors of what happened during the Holocaust for not only the Jewish people, but for all those people who were murdered, and for those people who were rescuers at concentration camps, and people who fought in World War Two. They were fighting against Nazis.
So it is not okay for this to be part of the lexicon of our public figures or anybody in education. It needs to be understood but not casually used.
Chris: According to the Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitic incidents have been on the rise in the United States for the last several years. What is your organization doing to start to address that issue?
Cathy: One of the things that I have seen from emails that have surfaced, and from conversations that I've had, the people of Tipp City that I've spoken with do not feel this is representative of their community and they are deeply moved by the inappropriate behavior.
They are moved to, well, first of all, disappointment and second of all, what's the action that can be taken?
This is an opportunity for action to occur so that's the direction that we're moving in. There are many different opportunities: We have a Holocaust Education Committee that trains educators at annual meetings, and throughout the year. They provide resources so educators can address the Holocaust but also resources that opens up the door to understanding each other. At the United States Air Force Museum, there is a Holocaust exhibit that talks about people in this area who experienced the Holocaust and those who were rescuers when the concentration camps. We're opened.
There's so much here in this area where people can learn and the people in Tipp City are reaching out for opportunities to learn.
