Originally Posted By: the G-man
Oopsie:
  • Barack Obama is getting called out again for his knowledge of history, including his own family’s, after declaring to veterans on Memorial Day that his uncle helped liberate the Auschwitz death camp at the end of World War II.

    Two problems with the tale: Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Army, and Obama’s American mother was an only child.




 Originally Posted By: the G-man
Obama Explains Auschwitz Remark: Dem hopeful says Memorial Day reference to 'uncle' who helped 'liberate' Polish death camp was a factual mixup.

Barack Hussein Obama seems to have a lot of those lately. Maybe early senility is setting in.


Ok, G-Man... I can't believe you're just as low as he rest of the gOP. Well, actually i can...

The other day Obama mentioned that his uncle, Charlie Payne, helped to liberate the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. The Republicans were hoping that they could catch Obama lying - that maybe Obama never had an uncle who helped liberate the Jews in Europe. Well, in fact, Obama's uncle (his grandmother's brother) helped liberate the Nazi camp at Buchenwald (Obama mixed up Auschwitz and Buchenwald). So the Republicans (and a few Hillary fans) are trying to allege... what exactly? That Obama's family did in fact help save the Jews in Europe, but Obama got the name of the camp he liberated wrong? Okay. I'm not quite sure how that gives us any insight into Obama (other than his uncle is a hero) - I don't really know the difference Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Bergen Belsen and the rest of the camps. I just know that I'd be damn proud if a member of my family helped liberate them. Not to mention, according to the US Holocaust Museum, Obama's uncle's Infantry Division didn't just liberate one of the camps that made up Buchenwald. It was the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by US troops in all of Germany. That's pretty amazing.

The LA Times blog:

 Quote:
The RNC seized the opportunity to fire off a news release, saying that “unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there’s no way Obama’s statement yesterday can be true. Obama’s frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief.”

The Obama campaign soon acknowledged that the Democratic candidate made a mistake. It explained that Obama’s great-uncle was in the 89th Infantry Division that helped liberate another notorious death camp, Buchenwald. Obama, the campaign said, “is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II -- especially the fact that his great-uncle was part of liberating of one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald.”

All of which raises the question: What's worse, Obama's apparent gaffe or the RNC pouncing on a Holocaust-related historical mistake for political advantage?


and this letter pretty much nails the stupidity of the GOP.

 Quote:
Want to know how idiotic this is? The difference between Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen comes down to the fact that Auschwitz was specifically labeled an extermination camp, whereas the latter three are "merely" concentration camps where people were worked to death. One of the biggest myths surrounding the Holocaust is that every concentration camp was an extermination camp with crematoria. In fact, most were work camps where people were either worked to death, starved to death, shot, or murdered in ways so unthinkable that I cannot even imagine.

Anne Frank died at Bergen-Belsen, and 7 of my family members died at Dachau. I personally don't give a damn that Obama confused Buchenwald and Auschwitz, I'm personally glad that Obama's uncle, and his American/European/and yes, Soviet allies got there and put an end to it before the Nazi's (and their "appeasers") were able to kill, by cyanide or bullet to the head, one more innocent person.

Turning this into a political football is reprehensible, and as the daughter and granddaughter of Jews who currently reside in Florida, I can tell you that this jockeying is sickening to watch. And from the limited sample I have, it isn't doing the RNC any favors (I don't know if its hurting them, but it sure as hell isn't helping).

Kim
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida


Like i mentioned with Valerie Plame and John Kerry, it seems these Republican thugs like nothing better than to denigrate actual service to ones country and actual heroism for political advantage. This time it's going to blow back in their thug faces and they certainly deserve any ire coming their way. imagine that, Barak Obama's uncle helped liberate a concentration camp! It really must kill the gop who thought they'd paint this guy as some Muslim foreigner.

Oh, and the Holoucast Museum confirms Obama's uncle's Infantry Division liberated Buchenwald