Swastika appearances disturb Jewish Federation
When Salomon Smeer was a child in Holland, his mother gave him away to strangers in order to hide him from German invaders who were intent on arresting and deporting all Jews.
Smeer never saw his mother again. She would die in a concentration camp in Auschwitz. He would spend three years living in secret, passed around a clandestine network of households in the Dutch resistance.
“I was told my name would change. But I knew I was Jewish,” said Smeer, now an 83-year-old Windsor resident.
“I never had contact with other children. I was sleeping in tunnels, under the floor, and in attics. I was very lonesome, cold, and hungry.”
After the Second World War ended, Smeer was raised in a Jewish orphanage.
It's been almost 76 years since the Nazis were defeated, but Smeer isn't shocked that their symbols continue to show up in Canada — his home since 2002.
“It is nothing unusual,” Smeer said. “Those anti-semitic feelings have been around for thousands of years. Why would we think it would be different today?”
And for those who would dare to make comparisons between government-mandated COVID-19 measures and Nazism, Smeer
dismisses such thoughts as “ignorant.”
“They have no idea what it meant to be occupied by the Nazis in those years. To compare it to lockdown — It is silly. I have no words for it.”
Smeer and other local Holocaust survivors are among the reasons why the Windsor Jewish Federation and Community Centre is condemning the recent cavalier appearances of swastikas in the city.
“It's important to remember what the swastika really represents,” said Dan Brotman, the federation's executive director.
“The Nazis did not only murder millions of Jews. They imprisoned and murdered gay people, people of colour, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses.”
“That kind of a symbol is an assault on so many segments of the community.”
Windsor police are investigating four separate incidents since April 6 in which signs with swastikas were placed at prominent locations in the city, including: the Met Campus of Windsor Regional Hospital, Hotel-dieu Grace Healthcare, the CBC Windsor building. and the 300 block of Tecumseh Road East.
The signs resemble Canadian flags, but with the red maple leaf replaced with a crude red swastika.
Police are categorizing the incidents as “hate-motivated crimes,” and have denounced criminal acts “that promote hatred to anyone.”
In a public statement, the Windsor Jewish Federation and Community Centre described the Nazi swastika as an “egregious symbol” of an “evil regime.”
The organization noted that the recent signs are particularly inappropriate due to April 7 to 8 being Yom Hashoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day, as recognized by the State of Israel.
“In some countries, like Germany, displaying the swastika is actually illegal, because it is such a virulent sign of hatred,” Brotman pointed out.
The intent of the signs remains unclear.
The Windsor Jewish Federation and Community Centre is aware of the suggestion that the signs are not meant as an expression of support for Nazism, but as criticism of government policy — relating COVID-19 measures to Nazism.
Such a comparison is “both outrageous and unnecessary,” according to the federation.
“Perpetuating false equivalencies about the Holocaust is dangerous. These comparisons minimize the intentional and industrialized mass murder of millions, carried out by the Nazis and their supporters,” stated the federation.
“These analogies have no place in civil discourse and should be condemned by all.”
In February, offices of the transgender and queer community organization W.E. Trans Support (now called Trans Wellness Ontario) were subject to vandalism that included a smashed window and swastikas scrawled as graffiti.
Windsor police also investigated those incidents as hate crimes, but no charges were laid.
The crude nature of the swastika drawings and their accompanying slur-filled messages led Trans Wellness Ontario organizers to wonder about the mental health of the person or persons responsible.
Brotman noted that the recent “Canadian flag ” swastikas are also poorly drawn: The swastikas are pointing in the opposite direction of the historic Nazi swastika.
However, Brotman feels the locations of the signs and their reference to the national flag show deliberation and political intent.
“Whether or not the person is mentally disturbed, I still see it as a form of a hate crime,” Brotman said. “I think that this crossed the line.”
Dr. Michael Malowitz, president of the Windsor Jewish Federation and Community Centre, agreed.
“I know people are frustrated with the lockdowns, the pandemic. We're a year-plus into this and it seems like there's no end in sight. But this is not the way to go about protesting,” Malowitz said.
Anyone with information about the recent swastika signs is encouraged to contact the Morality Unit at 519-255-6700 ext. 4343. Dial ext. 400 during after hours.
Anonymous tips can be made via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or catchcrooks.com.