The politicization of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum proceeds apace. Two years ago, the Clinton administration roiled the administrative ranks of the museum by enlisting it for use as a prop for Middle East diplomacy, specifically for a photoop tour of the facility by PLO leader Yasser Arafat. In the aftermath of that controversy, Walter Reich, the director who courageously opposed the Arafat visit, was ousted.
The overseers of the museum seem to have extracted from this whole experience the lesson that they can do whatever pleases them. Thus it probably should not have been surprising last week to see an advertisement in the Washington Post for a lefty documentary, Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist, now showing at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Here's the summary from the ad: "Many American lives were damaged during the notorious McCarthy Era following World War II, with individuals' reputations and careers often attacked and shredded. Among those discredited by the House Un-American Activities Committee and ultimately blacklisted -- prevented from fully participating in postwar American life -- were many African Americans, including Harry Belafonte, Paul Robeson, Canada Lee, and Jackie Robinson."
Without unpacking the deep layers of mendacity here, it's fair to ask: And this has what exactly to do with the Holocaust? Once an institution starts lending its reputation to extraneous political agendas, it apparently finds it hard to stop.