The Harm of Holocaust Comparisons

By Mimi Lebeau ‘24
In the age of internet activism, it is simple to spread awareness of pressing issues online. As beneficial as this is, it often forces activists and other social media users to compete with one another to have their voices heard.
In doing so, some, almost always non-Jews, compare situations even remotely suppressive, to the Holocaust, attracting attention through extreme hyperbole. This may not seem harmful, as these activists are merely using a past tragedy to seemingly help prevent another from persisting. However, these comparisons undermine the actual suffering and death that occurred during World War II. 

A common part of this tactic is to claim a given genocide has surpassed the Holocaust in deaths; a complete falsehood, as the Holocaust remains the deadliest known genocide in history, accounting for around twice the deaths of even the second deadliest recorded genocide. 
Such comparisons are not only used in the context of human genocides. Many pro-life and animal activists use the Holocaust as a booster for their issues, claiming abortions or the meat industry has claimed more lives than the Holocaust, or that these occurrences are a modern-day holocaust. To compare the six million Jews murdered to fetuses or animals is absolutely disgusting, as neither group could experience the raw suffering in any way close to the many human victims.  
This disturbing ploy for recognition has even grown to include situations not remotely similar to the Holocaust in degree of suffering and death. Former actress on Disney’s “The Mandalorian” Gina Carano, who has since been fired for comparing the treatment of conservatives in America today to that of Jews in Nazi Germany, wrote: 
“Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
This is blatantly inaccurate, as the current government has never attempted to alienate liberals or conservatives, there is merely a matter of different political ideologies between parties. Conservatives and liberals are still afforded the same rights as any other American citizen, while Jews in Germany were denied basic necessities such as medical treatment and housing. 
Conservatives have a large presence in government, holding nearly half of Congress, a privilege Jews never received during the Holocaust. Thus, it is highly inaccurate to insinuate that conservatives in America are oppressed to an extent anyway similar to Jews in Nazi Germany. By comparing religious and ethnic persecution to differences and conflicts in political beliefs, it downplays the severity of the Reich’s abuses and asserts that Jews were merely disagreed with, not brutally murdered. 
Such comparisons help contribute to the rise in Holocaust denial. Since the Holocaust is constantly compared to other issues, its true impact is suppressed, leading easily influenced social media users to buy into the myth that the Holocaust was not as extreme as other genocides.
At the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, president Gideon Fox announced the results of their survey called the “U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey,” the first-ever fifty-state survey regarding Holocaust education of millennials and Generation Z. The results show that 63 percent of respondents believe the death toll of the Holocaust was under two million. 
As the Holocaust becomes more distant, its relevance should not wither. Holocaust education is just as vital as it was in the years following World War II, and it is no coincidence that younger generations who are more present on social media lack knowledge of basic facts.  
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool in spreading awareness about various issues, yet with the growing pervasiveness of Holocaust comparisons, it seems the Holocaust itself is fading into the background. 
The Holocaust is the apotheosis of genocides; the epitome of cruelty and death. It has no place being used as a measuring stick for other causes. An incomparable tragedy should never be minimized to boost another issue.
Likening the Holocaust to any event demeans its significance and invalidates the number of lives claimed by the horrible tragedy.