In Phoenix earlier this month, an Arizona man described as a white supremacist, proudly draped a red Nazi swastika flag at a Bernie Sanders rally. Freedom of expression! Isn’t that the American way? In 2017, condemning the Charlottesville violence where an innocent victim was killed, Trump blamed many sides but stated that there were very fine people on both sides and that included Nazis. This white supremacist believed in what he was doing and apparently felt that Nazism goes hand in hand with his beliefs. Many others feel the same way.
Let’s not put them down these white supremacists and Nazis for their beliefs. Apparently they are smart people. The problem is they should do a bit more research. If they did, they would learn that during World War II, we and many of our allies fought against Nazi Germany. Estimates for total casualties of the war range from 60 million to 70 million. An estimated 18 million military personnel were killed on the battlefields of Europe with losses amounting to approximately 11 million for our allied fighters and seven million for the Axis powers. Add 45 million civilian deaths and they should get the total picture.
In the early 1940s, the United States population totaled 140 million and 16 million Americans served in the military and fought in the war. That’s was over 11 percent of the American population. American troops who died fighting Nazism exceeded 415,000 and our wounded exceeded 670,000. Back then, any American who supported the Nazis would have been considered a traitor and jailed for treason.
Shouldn’t all Americans know this? But they don’t. Perhaps we are not so smart. I’m sure many of these white supremacists had fathers, grandfathers or other relatives who fought in this war and if they saw their kin raising a Nazi flag, they would turn over in their graves. Facts! These are real. They could and should look it up.
Alvin H. Goldberg
Great Neck
