Yad Vashem invites Whoopi Goldberg to learn about ’causes and aftermath of Holocaust’
Yad Vashem has invited Whoopi Goldberg to learn about “the causes and aftermath of the Holocaust,” after she claimed the Holocaust was “not about race.”
Whoopi Goldberg. Credit: lev radin/Shutterstock.
Insisting during a discussion on ABC’s “The View” that the Holocaust is not about race, Goldberg offered that “it’s about man’s inhumanity to man, that’s what it’s about.”
Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan stated Tuesday that Goldberg’s remarks, made “only days after the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is an unfortunate indication of a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.”
“We must not mince words; people need to know what led to the Holocaust, the unprecedented murderous drive to annihilate the entire Jewish people their religion, culture and values by the Nazis and their collaborators, primarily because of the unfounded belief that Jews were their foremost and extremely dangerous racial enemy,” he said.
Goldberg apologized for her remarks and claimed that the Holocaust is about race and man’s inhumanity to man.
“As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected,” she said on Twitter.
“The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused. Written with my sincerest apologies,” she added.
Dayan noted that while her apology and clarification “are important, I extend a personal invitation to her to learn more about the causes, events and aftermath of the Holocaust here at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem.”
Greenblatt thanked Goldberg for correcting her statement and “acknowledging the Holocaust for what it was. As anti-Semitism surges to historic levels, I hope we can work together to combat ignorance of that horrific crime and the hate that threatens all.”
Goldberg was taking the stance that many black and/or coloured people take that the only racism that can exist is that associated with the colour of one’s skin. That attitude seeks to own racism and limit it.
I hope that Whoopi Goldberg goes to Yad Vashem and stands in the room there where one is surrounded by walls of photos of all the different faces of those who suffered the Nazi acts of racism that resulted in murder and dispossession. She will see people young and old, darker and paler (one I remember to this day from so many years ago when viewed, is the pale face of a young boy about 8 or 10 years old with many freckles on his skin). Go there, Whoopi, and see for yourself. It is sure to change you.
thank God, we live in a world where people can speak their mind about anything good or bad.especialy when they’re in the news midea and televission shows. That doesn’t mean their right in what they say.they need to do their homework before making accusations that are heard around the world.
I saw Whoopi’s routine early in her career. Part of that routine was a moving bit on visiting Anne Franks house! I would have thought she would know better!