Source: CBS Photo Archive / Getty
NEW YORK, Feb. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Blue Card, the only organization in the United States whose sole mission is to provide financial support to needy Holocaust survivors, penned a joint letter with Holocaust victims to Whoopi Goldberg, her co-hosts, and ABC, following Goldberg’s suspension from the network syndicated talk show The View.
Goldberg made comments on a recent broadcast minimizing the role of racism in the Nazi’s targeting of Jews during the Holocaust. For the survivors participating in the joint letter, Goldberg’s remarks were particularly alarming as recent surveys indicate that a significant number of young American’s lack basic Holocaust literacy, including knowledge about Auschwitz and how the Nazi’s systematically targeted Jews through genocide and mass internment.
Addressing Goldberg, the authors of the letter wrote “…we are a group of Jewish Holocaust survivors who came from various countries to the United States after enduring the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime… we have all heard your comments about how the Holocaust ‘was not about race,’ and instead was about, ‘man’s inhumanity to man’… [while] deeply hurt by these inaccurate assertions, [we] nevertheless would like to extend our hands to you so we can offer some insight and can help you during this moment of growth.”
Masha Pearl, Executive Director of The Blue Card said, “…for someone of Goldberg’s stature and platform, her remarks pose much hurt and harm to the Jewish community especially in light of the sharp rise of antisemitic hate crimes in the United States.”
Pearl and the co-signing Holocaust survivors offered to meet Goldberg and the co-hosts of The View to explore the history of Nazi discrimination and how antisemitism has impacted Jews for over two millennia.
Pearl who has previously led educational trips with elected officials and public figures to Holocaust monuments, suggests that Goldberg take the time to “… meet with survivors and visit a Holocaust education center and to learn the history of how the Nazis not only targeted Jews for their religion but also labeled Jews as an ‘inferior race’ through propaganda materials and media outlets.”
