Partisan hackery at the US Holocaust Museum

What did you do for International Holocaust remembrance day? The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the eve of that day did this: suck up to Trump by excoriating Tim Walz for remembering Anne Frank.

We Jews are easily manipulated, and so people have been jumping on the bandwagon. And some of the mainstream media, like Newsweek, are reporting this as if the USHMM speaks for the Jewish community.

Let’s remember what Tim Walz said:

We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody is going to write that children’s story about Minnesota, and there’s one person who can end this now.

Is he saying that Minnesota in 2026 is like the Netherlands in 1942?  No. Is he misusing Anne Frank’s memory? Not even slightly. He is trying to give his community courage to stand up in the face of violent repression.

He’s saying, “People will remember the story of your bravery and humanity.” Children and parents will take courage when they learn our story. Just like people wrote books about Anne Frank’s bravery, courage, and love for the world, long after the end of the Shoah (Holocaust), so too will people remember what Minnesotans did, long after the siege is over. That’s exactly one of the right lessons to learn from Anne Frank’s story.

There is no better way to honor Anne Frank than to let her memory be both a blessing and a revolution.

There was something the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum could have issued a statement about this year on Remembrance Day, but it wasn’t Tim Walz. Vice President Vance did his own act of remembrance that did not mention Jews, or any of the victims, of the Shoah.

Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality. And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.

What is Vance’s lesson? That we can prevent another Holocaust by just “promising” that we won’t do it again? Who’s the we? Are there any victims of that “we”? Perpetrators? Don’t know.

Of course, Vance was not excoriated, nor even mentioned, by the USHMM, even though he erased Jews from the Shoah.

The attack by USHMM on Walz was a partisan hack job. And it happened because Trump turned the Council (board) of USHMM into his lackeys, firing eight people already on the Board and replacing them with loyal rightwing players, weighing down the council with his political allies. In total, both terms, he has appointed over twenty council members in a group of 55. Normal presidents get to nominate five.

It’s similar to the way Trump manipulated the Supreme Court, to transform it into the know-nothing court that bestowed on Trump kingly powers. It’s similar to the way that Trump has undone the legacy of the Kennedy Center, not only replacing its board but making himself chairman.

Tim Walz is an amazing ally to Jewish communities and has worked as a Holocaust educator, and he spoke beautifully when he invoked Anne Frank, but USHMM found a way to attack him. JD Vance issued a statement about the Shoah that whitewashes the whole “darkest chapter” without mentioning who were the victims, and USHMM is silent.

Jews everywhere — you are being played for fools. Don’t let them get away with it. The manipulation by the museum is harsh and clear. USHMM is the one manipulating the memory of Anne Frank. We have to fight it.