
27 January was International Holocaust Remembrance Day – the day of memorial for the 6 million Jewish people, 200,000 Romani people, 250,000 disabled people, and 9,000 homosexual men killed by the Nazis.
27 January 2017 was also the day that President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning refugees from Syria from the US indefinitely, and from six other major Muslim countries for 120 days.
The irony of these two things happening on the same day is not lost on people.
For MLK's birthday, Trump attacked John Lewis. For Holocaust Remembrance Day, he banned Syrian refugees. What is he planning for Earth Day?— Sharon Gelman (@Sharon Gelman) 1485569159
In particular, many people pointed out that the US had refused to take thousands of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, who were later murdered in concentration camps.
Today is #HolocaustMemorialDay, a good time to remember those who died because the US wouldn't take in refugees. https://t.co/K7Nrm9n783— Helen Kennedy (@Helen Kennedy) 1485520462
Anne Frank could have been 77 & living in Boston today. But she died at 15 after being denied a US visa https://t.co/fwVnf1W5bD— Loveday Morris (@Loveday Morris) 1485561022
As explained in this MSNBC report, in February 1939, the US Congress voted down a bill to accept 20,000 German Jewish children. And then a year later, the US turned back a ship carrying 900 people fleeing the Nazis.
Where Holocaust Remembrance Day intersects with Trump's refugee ban https://t.co/Z0oAGkgORR— Maddow Blog (@Maddow Blog) 1485571059
254 of those sent back would go on to die in concentration camps, and a Twitter account has been listing those victims one by one.
My name is Werner Stein. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz https://t.co/nCgt9V33xm— St. Louis Manifest (@St. Louis Manifest) 1485567604
My name is Irmgard Köppel. The US turned me away at the border in 1939. I was murdered in Auschwitz https://t.co/s0ZWjsdYG9— St. Louis Manifest (@St. Louis Manifest) 1485553503
Jewish groups have strongly criticised Trump's actions.
"An America that does not welcome refugees is not America." -@MarkJHetfield— HIAS (@HIAS) 1485543363
Prior to signing off on the refugee ban, Trump released a statement honouring Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yet he failed to explicitly reference "Jews".
The Anti-Defamation League called the omission "troubling".
Now banned from entering the U.S. --> https://t.co/dsvsrvhC5O— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@Matt Pearce 🦅) 1485562347
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