(Jewish Group) 8 American monuments celebrating anti-Semites

[Behind the Aegis]

Gen. George S. Patton

Patton was one of the most important American military leaders during World War II, and the armies he commanded were crucial in winning the European theater of the war. He was also one of the American leaders responsible for overseeing the dissolution of Nazi concentration camps captured by the Allies. But his diary entries, posthumously published in 1996, reveal that his opinion of the Jewish prisoners he encountered was scarcely different than the Nazis he had just defeated. He described the Jewish displaced persons as “locusts,” “lower than animals,” “lost to all decency,” and “a subhuman species without any of the cultural or social refinements of our times.”

A monument to Patton was unveiled at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. in 1950, and then rededicated in 2009 — 13 years after his diary was published.

Henry Ford

Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, was also the owner of the Dearborn Independent, a newspaper that was distributed in dealerships nationwide. The Independent frequently published screeds and conspiracy theories against Jews, including several under Ford’s own name, as well as copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious anti-Semitic forgery. Ford was also frequently praised by Nazi leadership, which gave him a medal in 1938.

Today, a statue of Ford is present at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Mich. Another statue of him is found on the property of The Henry Ford, a history and science museum he founded.

Charles Lindbergh -- St. Paul, MN; the Lindbergh Terminal of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Peter Stuyvesant -- several New York City locations are named after him

Martin Luther -- Baltimore, MD

Ulysses S. Grant -- Washington, D.C. (San Francisco one came down)

Mary Elizabeth Lease -- Wichita, KS

Thomas E. Watson -- Atlanta, GA

more...

[Mosby]

1. US Grant gets a pass, imo.

All the reformationists were Antisemitic to some degree, not just Luther.

[MosheFeingold]

2. I am definately in the minority here

But I say leave them all up.

Henry Ford was a flaming asshole, yes. He is also a key figure in American (really, world) history.

You build monuments to remember their good (or important) acts. Then have a discussion about their flaws.

If you build monuments only to perfect people, well, there won't be any monuments.

[JudyM]

3. Sobering article, thanks for posting it.

[MosheFeingold]

4. Been thinking about Patton

I was in a room with him several times. He seemed fine. Shook my hand and was professional. I was star struck, as a "butter bar" lieutenant at the time. He sucked up all the energy in the room.

But, yes, the man was, by all accounts, an ass.

He was also really, really good at killing Nazis, which was his job. His aggressiveness ended the war in Europe more quickly than the cautious approach of the British. As a result, he saved the lives of many Jews.

So, despite whatever nasty things he said (and there are plenty; this article barely scratches the surface), that's a net win.

Men of war are rough, brutal, people. I think they have to be, or they lose their minds.

+++

I was also thinking about victims of the Shoa, including essentially my entire extended family beyond my parents.

I encountered many a "freed" Jewish person (and others) in the immediate aftermath of the war.

The primary emotion I had was absolute hatred of Germans (and, really, the French, to be completely candid). It took me some time to deal with that. I still won't drive in a German car. (Certainly not a BMW, which is ~51% owned by a family of unrepentant Nazis.)

Secondary was considerable embarrassment of the victims. I am now embarrassed by my embarrassment, but I'll admit to it.

People coming out of the camps were dirty, gross, weak and, well, pathetic. They were desperate and needy.

As, of course, anyone would be in that situation. I knew this intellectually then and now. But I was still repulsed by them.

I would have (I told myself) hid and fought and battled like the Jews in Warsaw Ghetto. They would have never taken me alive! (I told myself with youthful, well-fed, bravado of a Jewish soldier with a .45 on my hip.)

I now recognize that to be a lie to myself (probably).

Anyway, I'm going to cut Patton some slack. What he did was great. What he said was bad. But, if I, an American soldier, who happened to be Jewish, could have such thoughts, no doubt a pit bull of a human like Gen. Patton would have them, too.

Lack of self-awareness made Patton both a great man, and a weak one.

The statute is to the great part of him.