Do you know about what happened to the Jews in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s? Do you know about the German concentration camps?

If you read and know the historical facts, you know that because of their religion, Jewish men, women and children were taken from their homes. Many were placed into box cars and taken to prisons where they were separated from their family members. In these concentration camps, parents watched their children starve. Children watched as their parents were led into gas chambers they were told were showers and then gassed. Some of them were used by doctors who treated them as expendable animals to see the results of hideous medical experiments.

There is more, and if you know and read history (even if it makes you uncomfortable), you will learn more of the horrors inflicted on millions of human beings because they were Jews.

And you may read about the many brave and good non-Jews who tried to rescue and help their fellow humans because of a deep sense of humanity and the need to do what was right.

I tell you about this because some Republicans are comparing these horrors of fascist Germany to being asked to get vaccinated against a virulent and contagious virus in order to protect not just themselves but vulnerable friends and neighbors.

Do you think this comparison is reasonable? Do you think people who make this comparison know their history?

Sean Powers

State College

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