Board Chair of The Florida Holocaust Museum Responds to Jan. 6 Capitol Rioter Comparing her Treatment to Holocaust Victims
After a participant from the Capitol riot one year ago today compared her treatment to that of the Jews in Germany, Chair of the Florida Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education and Board Chair of The Florida Holocaust Museum Michael Igel released a statement on the realities of the Holocaust, stressing that false equivalencies trivialize those events.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jan. 6, 2022 – On the one-year anniversary of the January 6th riot at the United States Capitol, it is clear there is still problematic rhetoric coming from the rioters present at the Capitol that day, according to Mike Igel, Board Chair of the Florida Holocaust Museum and Chair of the Florida Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education.
Igel points to Jenna Ryan, a participant at the riot who, after pleading guilty and being sentenced to 60 days in prison, stated that her treatment was comparable to that of Jews in Germany, apparently referring to the Holocaust.
“If Jenna Ryan thinks her situation is comparable to the Holocaust, she has some serious learning to do. If she was being persecuted like the Jews during the Holocaust, lots of different things could have happened to her: she could have been placed in a ghetto, killed on the spot, tortured, starved, herded into a cattle car, brought to a concentration camp, and murdered… based solely on her religion. Instead, she pled guilty to participating in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol and will be a free woman in just a matter of months.”
Igel says these knee-jerk false equivalencies trivialize the events of the Holocaust, and the prominence of this school of thought highlights the need for more comprehensive Holocaust education.
In his role on the Task Force, Igel works with the Florida Commissioner of Education to integrate Holocaust education into schools and programs throughout Florida to create more understanding and empathy for the horrific events of the past, with the hope that this will lead to a better future.
Read more: https://www.timesofisrael.com/convicted-capitol-hill-rioter-compares-her-treatment-to-jews-in-germany/
About The Florida Holocaust Museum
One of the largest Holocaust museums in the country, and one of three nationally accredited Holocaust museums, The Florida Holocaust Museum honors the memory of millions of men, women, and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust. The FHM is dedicated to teaching members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides. For additional information, please visit www.thefhm.org.