Montreal Holocaust Museum: Yellow stars at protests offensive, inaccurate, hurtful

On Wednesday the Montreal Holocaust Museum has released a statement via Twitter following the appearance of yellow stars of David at recent protests here (outside a Laval gym on Tuesday) and around the world.

They noted that Nazis forced Jews to wear the yellow star as a means of identification, allow them to be targeted for arrests, deportations and mass murder. The star has been adopted recently by unvaccinated protesters who feel stigmatized and victimized due to their status, especially in light of vaccine passports that will bar them from certain places and activities.

“Comparisons between the yellow stars of David and vaccine passports (or lack thereof) are “offensive, inaccurate and attempt to trivialize the painful history of the Holocaust.”

—Montreal Holocaust Museum

(1/3) Comparisons between vaccine passports and yellow Stars of David are offensive, inaccurate, and attempt to trivialize the painful history of the Holocaust.
#PasseportVaccinal

— Musée Holocauste MTL (@MuseeHolocauste) August 18, 2021

(3/3) Notably, the badges facilitated the persecution of Jews by identifying them during mass arrests and later deportations. As a result, the yellow star has become a painful symbol of Jewish discrimination and the Holocaust. Learn more on this artefact:https://t.co/1MRXnVDE6O

— Musée Holocauste MTL (@MuseeHolocauste) August 18, 2021

Today, Quebec anti-racism minister Benoit Charette told reporters that the protesters were indirectly guilty of antisemitism and that there is no link between the requirement to show proof of vaccination during a pandemic and the symbol of the Nazi era.

In Germany, where wearing the yellow star to a pandemic protest is perhaps especially galling, there has been a call to officially ban the accessory.

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