Obama Fails Another History Lesson

By Pamela Mortimer

Barack Obama means well. The Illinois senator appeared in Las Cruces, NM on Monday to praise the dedication and sacrifice of veterans and pledged to increase proper care for those who have been wounded in service to their country. This includes many family members of veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. These ideals are a topic that every candidate agrees on but it’s nice to hear, particularly on Memorial Day.

Then Obama messed up. The Democratic presidential candidate has been criticized in the past for the lack of knowledge in American history and what he said next didn’t help matters. Obama, in an attempt to empathize with veterans, said that while he didn’t serve, he had an uncle who helped liberate prisoners held at the Auschwitz concentration camp at the end of World War II.

There are two small problems with Obama’s tale: Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviets not the Americans, and Obama’s mother was an only child.

"I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps and the story in our family is that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn’t leave the house for six months, right. Now obviously something had really affected him deeply but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain," he said.

Many quickly referred to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website to check on the historical accuracy of Obama’s statement. The facts show that Soviet forces were the first to approach Auschwitz, which was located in Poland. Good thing Obama didn’t say it was in Germany.

The website also states, "On Jan. 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners."

The United States armed forces were instrumental in liberating several concentration camps, including Ohrdruf Concentration Camp on April 4, 1945; Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp on April 11, 1945; Buchenwald on April 12, 1945; Dachau on April 29, 1945; and Mauthausen on May 5, 1945.

Some critics complain that if Hillary had made the same statement, there would be an uproar that would be recounted non-stop on CNN. There are also those who sympathize with Obama, saying that stories handed down from generation to generation often become confused and inaccurate.

Perhaps Obama should have shared a tale about his father who served in World War II. The Obama camp has not yet released a statement to clarify the erroneous speech.