Ninety years ago, in Vienna, Austria, a woman named Elizabeth was born. She had three siblings, a brother and sister, who were several years older, and another brother who was two years younger. Her father was a leather craftsman and silversmith.
When Elizabeth was three years old, her mother attempted suicide. She was so ill mentally, that Elizabeth's father had to commit her to an institution. Ten years later, the Nazis took over Austria. Shortly after, Elizabeth's mother disappeared.
No one is absolutely certain of her fate but speculation leads one to believe she was a victim of the Nazis' eugenics program. Quite simply, the Nazis believed that anyone like Elizabeth's mother was mentally deficient and should be euthanized. Today, we call that murder.
Elizabeth now lives in the US near her family. I know this because she is my grandmother. I sometimes wonder what she is feeling when she sees a Nazi swastika but my grandmother doesn't speak much about things that bother her deeply.
More to the point, what kind of person waves a swastika, knowing fully well the kind of fear and horror it invokes among those who suffered at the Nazis' hands?
Symbols are powerful. They can inspire confidence, patriotism, faith, courage, etc. They can also inspire the opposite: terror, hatred, avarice and anguish.
I say this because I would no more wave a Confederate flag in front of my African American neighbors than I would a swastika in front of a Jewish community.
But it's my right, you say? I'm a big believer that just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Germany still suffers the stain of her Nazi past the same as the American South still suffers the stain of slavery. I don't believe we should forget the lessons of our history but we should not rub anyone's face in it.
It's time to put the flag away.
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