Had Spicer been right, my dad might’ve lived

How I wish White House spokesperson

Sean Spicer were right when he said that Adolf Hitler had never used chemical weapons. If Hitler and his men hadn’t developed such an efficient use of gas as a deadly weapon, my family and I might not have been in Auschwitz at all.

The last time I saw my father was shortly after we were unloaded from the train at Auschwitz. A group of SS officers sent us in opposite directions: me toward the camp gate and my father to someplace unknown to me.

My father had been taken to a room where innocent people, young and old, were told a shower awaited them. The door was locked, but instead of water coming from the ceiling, Zyklon B was dropped into the room. Everyone inside died.

Spicer was so unfortunately wrong in saying that Hitler never dropped gas on innocent people, and for me he was heart-wrench- ingly wrong. But ignorance is harmful, and an event like Spicer’s thoughtless reference to the Holocaust is just one example of the cost of ignorant leadership.

The world pays great attention to what the White House says and doesn’t say. When mention of Jewish victims or anti-Semitism was resoundingly missing from the White House’s statement on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a strong message was sent. When alt-right advocates can speak for the administration, the world learns that intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism are welcome within the ranks of American leadership. When days go by while the president says nothing in the wake of his press secretary’s insulting statement about the Holocaust, the silence is deafening.

I call for the White House to replace Spicer with a spokesperson who speaks with wisdom, knowledge and integrity, and whose words reflect the fundamental values of America. Gene Klein Holocaust survivor The Villages, Fla.