Jewish Group
Related: About this forumQuestion. Is "Alligator Auschwitz" offensive to you?
This discussion thread was locked by Behind the Aegis (a host of the Jewish Group group).
Like it could be seen as belittling to what happened at the actual place. I think the answer is probably yes.

JustAnotherGen
(35,680 posts)What the members of this group think.
Norrrm
(2,424 posts)If it criticizes the making of a concentration camp, I can be ok with it.
If it is used to trivialize the making of a concentration camp and the cruelty, I don't like it. Boasting.
scipan
(2,912 posts)There are parallels: people will die from heatstroke and lack of medical care, and won't be fed much if the existing detention centers are any indication. But not to the extent of Auschwitz.
WhiteTara
(30,954 posts)enough
(13,570 posts)joke framing. Im not Jewish but I do have some basic understating of the meaning of the word Auschwitz. Nothing about any of this whole thing is a joke. Theyre minimizing the
reality of what theyre doing.
scipan
(2,912 posts)enough
(13,570 posts)which is to distract from the reality. The message is: if you can joke about it, it cant really be bad.
kacekwl
(8,471 posts)and hopefully those calling it that realize that. I think they do.
questionseverything
(11,093 posts)CrispyQ
(39,987 posts)I did not know about this until today.
The gut-wrenching history of black babies and alligators - https://democraticunderground.com/100220452765
dlilafae
(255 posts)offensive. And yes, them laughing and taking photo ops where people will soon lay slowly dying is very, very offensive. The purest of evil.
HelpImSurrounded
(534 posts)Make no mistake, this camp is calculated to kill people. Not with gas chambers but intolerable conditions and, yes, alligators.
The intent is similar even if the methodology is more subtle.
LetMyPeopleVote
(166,448 posts)question everything
(50,635 posts)HelpImSurrounded
(534 posts)It depends on who really gives it traction. The left coined the term "Trump Derangement Syndrome" but the right took hold of it and weaponized it against us.
So, we'll see who is really using it.
Duncanpup
(14,849 posts)Babics was a sub camp of Auschwitz my people relatives the Slavs were considered Untermench.
And yes find this alligator Alcatraz sickening disgusting.
scipan
(2,912 posts)Duncanpup
(14,849 posts)So I never knew him. Yet as young soldier in 86 we toured Dachau and we all cried. My point that was the first time in person i saw the brutality of the Holocaust and what really messed with my head on that tour.
The piles of shoes that were taken from those sentenced by the Nazis. Now Dachau was not extermination camp. Yet malnutrition diseases did there part.
Even our NCOs who fought in Vietnam cried and today my heart breaks for these people who are persecuted.
Whether immigrants in these maga concentration camps or Palestinians in Gaza concentration camp Im only human.
I once met a Russian who was Jewish in a bar around 1985 i was 19 in age in Butzbach West Germany. He asked to borrow a cigarette and in handing him it his sleeve came up on his arm. And i saw his camp tattoo.
Around us were friends of a German railroad worker that i became friends with men then my age now. Yet these men majority of them fought in Russia for Hitler i asked this Russian how can you sit amongst these people.
His answers
1- I couldnt go back to Russia after the war.
2- Ive learned to forgive.
To this day i still cannot wrap my head around this mans reply ( Ive learned to forgive)
The Blue Flower
(6,021 posts)I don't think it's funny or a joke. I think it clearly describes what the camp is going to be. People will die there in large numbers, and that's the whole point of the place. I say that as someone who had family members perish in the German camps. It's intended to kill both body and spirit.
scipan
(2,912 posts)ETA: devil's advocate: I'd be shocked if Krasnov et. al don't do that frog in hot water thing so I wouldn't expect it to approach those conditions at first. One important difference is that for many/most it will be very temporary.
Things of course will get worse.
mountain grammy
(28,015 posts)snowybirdie
(6,213 posts)Living in SW Florida, I know people will suffer as the summer goes forward. Mosquitos, will bring disease. Hurricane season brings tornados in that area too. People will surely die and they mostly will not be the horrible people as described today. They will be working people who keep our economy going.
LetMyPeopleVote
(166,448 posts)This is NOT a joke. trump and DeathSantis have built a true concentration camp and trump is "joking" about feeding detainees to alligators. This new concentration camp scares me. There are several good comparisons of the Auschwitz camp and living facilities compared to this facility
Link to tweet


Link to tweet


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I am former member of the board of my 2400 family temple and have got to listen a good number of holocaust survivors over the years. trump/DeathSantis' new facility is a concentration camp where it is likely that normal law abiding detainees may end up (over 60% of the ICE detainees have no criminal record).
This facility is not Auschwitz but could be just the beginning

scipan
(2,912 posts)"several stages along the way" is correct I believe.
LetMyPeopleVote
(166,448 posts)scipan
(2,912 posts)unblock
(55,398 posts)My brain tells me we've already passed the point of no return and the price we will all pay is at the mercy of an evil alliance of people with no moral compass and no mechanism to keep from sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss.
Seriously how do we reclaim democracy and normalcy? They control the trifecta, with congress and the Supreme Court incapable of meaningfully holding Donnie back, a network of billionaires happy to donate hundreds of billions to feed the beast, key state legislature, enough yahoos to make threats of violence credible, an army of rabid bigots, and a media that amplifies their propaganda and won't dare to criticize them.
Maybe they didn't overtly cheat, but they clearly will if the need to to win. So how exactly are we to believe this stops? Somehow we have a fair election and win and they just skulk away? No way it will be that easy, if it's possible at all.
scipan
(2,912 posts)Kamala wasn't hitting her marks. Every single county I saw regardless of whether it was in a swing state, blue, or red.
Our elections are held and processed locally. I just don't see a way (and I don't understand how a smart power plug could change votes, as was put forth here in several threads). And at first I was kinda dumfounded, but now I can sorta understand, about the results. And... Elon LOST the judge's race in WI despite saying that losing spelled the end of the world or something, and putting tons of $ into it.
SCROTUS is holding him back generally. They may just want to go slower and more outwardly plausible, I don't know. But it was still 9-0 for due process. (Now it is trying to sneak around that.)
Even dictatorships and kings have been overthrown. All is not lost and they want us to be discouraged so we stop fighting. Never.
Whew. That was longer than I intended. Guess I'm typing for me as well.
questionseverything
(11,093 posts)Just because you dont understand computer programming doesnt make it non existent
But please keep defending the 1%ers voting machine companies and the 1%ers spread sheet reporting companies
kacekwl
(8,471 posts)name is to point out the atrocities of the trump administration and the similarities to Nazi Germany. Not everything is meant to be a slight on the Holocaust. I think it fits like a glove.
slightlv
(6,127 posts)about Auschwitz, but it points it out as the example of true evil in the modern era. Comparing it to the Concentration Camp in Florida is trying to impress how far down the road to Hell this country has gone. It's meant as an attempt to wake people up from the slumbering evil in which they've been living. I'd much rather see that name attached to this camp than the "cutesy" little Alligator moniker. That means very little to people. Auschwitz is burned into people minds... even for those who attempt to deny its existence or Evil.
Not everything spoken of about concentration camps, specific camps, or the horrible cruelty that went on in these camps is meant to take away from that reality. I do believe marking what is going on now in the U.S. as several steps into that cruelty of those times is important... imperative... to knock into people's brains today. Everything is being normalized. Evil cannot and should not be normalized - not then, and not now. People have made the statement "Never Again" but what does that mean when people don't realize what they're arguing against? And how can it have any impact on anyone if you allow it to happen again... as we are right now, today. "Never Again" should have meant every right thinking person descended on that camp and tore it apart before anyone could be imprisoned in it, no matter what the consequences. That's just my opinion... and I feel it strongly. YMMV, of course.
Beastly Boy
(13,043 posts)Last edited Wed Jul 2, 2025, 10:57 PM - Edit history (1)
Nothing in the history of the world comes close to Auschwitz. Nothing. There is not a glove big enough to fit Auschwitz. Let's not forget it.
Behind the Aegis
(55,522 posts)This review of "Jews Don't Count" is pretty good and sums up the book well. If you haven't read either book, I highly recommend both!
CivicGrief
(191 posts)Replace "Communists" with "Immigrants."
Beastly Boy
(13,043 posts)I replied to the OP as directly as the OP demanded. No changing the subject.
And apparently you forgot: over 1 million Jews were gassed and burned in Auschwitz in less than five years.
scipan
(2,912 posts)but surprisingly to me are several with families/synagogue members who were actually IN the concentration camps who are not offended. One who is. Several who didn't choose to identify are as well. Some aren't. 2 or 3 want to wait and see.
As a result I'm not personally going to use "Alligator Auschwitz" for awhile, despite liking it alot. It may be more acceptable later. Doesn't mean I'm not alarmed because I am. You just don't treat people like this. It needs to be pointed out and called out.
ETA: Several people with families and/or synagogue members in the Holocaust recognize this as a CONCENTRATION CAMP.
2 caveats from me: 1) temporary? 2) access to due process? Regardless it's going to get worse and worse. Trump is a sadist.
Beastly Boy
(13,043 posts)It has become increasingly acceptable to belittle Auschwitz, Holocaust and genocide by comparing it to horrors that are incomparable with these terms.
To see this trend reinforced with loaded questions ( your OP invited a comparison of two terms that are incomparable) and judge the resulting replies like it were a popularity contest is indeed offensive.
enid602
(9,499 posts)I think the term trivializes and minimizes what Auschwitz was. I hope to hell I can give you the same answer six months from now.
I don't think it will take that long.
I just heard they are "training" immigration judges as part of their plans
Those photos are scary.
scipan
(2,912 posts)G*d.
jg10003
(1,038 posts)It not only trivializes the holocaust but it also distracts from the very real injustice be perpetrated against immigrants.
scipan
(2,912 posts)I'm not going to use it personally, at least not for now. I don't know whether to call it out. Interesting you think it distracts.
I think there are other ways to put attention on it, because it's effing disgraceful, inhumane, against everything I believe in. In short it's a bfd.
ZDU
(575 posts)Heat. Power loss. Deaths.
scipan
(2,912 posts)More truthful.
ZDU
(575 posts)that people will die there
scipan
(2,912 posts)Couple that with high heat in a tent. And only the minimum health care.
Maybe... they'll have AC? That wouldn't work very well in a porous tent, but maybe?
You're right, people will die. They're dying already.
Behind the Aegis
(55,522 posts)You posted in this in the Jewish Group. Many, if not most, of the responses aren't even from Jews. Jewish pain, suffering, and fears are fodder for both sides of the political spectrum. I will credit the ones who aren't Jewish and made note of it. Kudos.
Is the term offensive? Yes. It makes light of two situations, the actual horrors of Auschwitz and the horrors of the current encampment. Is it a "concentration camp"? In my view, yes, it is. When one brings in Nazi references, especially those of DEATH CAMPS, like Auschwitz, then one starts to traffic in something else altogether. In a country, a world, where anti-Semitism is rising, continues to rise, and has a cadre, a loud one, defending, excusing, and mocking anti-Semitism, this is just salt on the wound.
The US has a history of concentration camps, including what were called "Indian reservations", some are marginally better, most are not, to full-fledged concentration camps, the most famous were the ones that held Japanese Americans during WWII, as well as other that held German- and Italian Americans during the same time period.
It is profoundly disappointing to have a question like this posed in a group whose history is related to the question, only to be talked over or around, but it is par for the course now.
All death camps were concentration camps, but not all concentration camps were death camps, so why use "Auschwitz" and not the name of a labor camp? Why? Because most wouldn't recognize the name or the significance, so use the one that many will know, despite the GLARING differences. Again, Jewish history and pain are inconsequential to the majority, if not an outright punchline.
What is happening in this country is horrific. Is it a prelude to worse things? Likely. But in calling out the outrage, one needn't dehumanize the Jew by casually using terms which are significant to our community.
scipan
(2,912 posts)Are you offended by the question or the responses that
I was asking.
I will not use it based on the responses here.
Behind the Aegis
(55,522 posts)As I said, for those who ID'd themselves as not Jewish, that's cool. Think about it, if you went into the African-American group or the LGBT group to ask an opinion about something relevant to those communities only to have most of the responses be from those who DON'T belong to the group.
So, I am not offended by the question, you seem to be legitimately interested, nor do I take exception to non-Jewish people expressing themselves here in a respectful manner. I am more offended that when questions are asked of us, others are quick to express themselves though not asked.
scipan
(2,912 posts)I assume some people have strong feelings and after all it's kinda a free for all in general. I get what you're saying.
I wasn't specific when I asked so it might be my fault. I wish people would give an idea of where they're coming from because it does make a difference.
Behind the Aegis
(55,522 posts)"Okay. I did want Jewish/untermensch points of view but wasn't offended."
"Untermensch" means SUB-HUMAN!
scipan
(2,912 posts)#11.
I'm going to bed, I'm not up to this.
LetMyPeopleVote
(166,448 posts)This is a poorly constructed concentration camp that floods in normal rain. If a hurricane hits this area, the death toll will be really sad.
New video showed a "garden-variety South Florida summer rainstorm" flooding tents and drowning out Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as he touted the "Alligator Alcatrez" detention facility he claimed was ready to house deportees, according to The Miami Herald.
— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2025-07-02T16:45:23Z
https://www.rawstory.com/alligator-alcatraz-2672557600
Rain began shortly after President Donald Trump finished up his tour of the Everglades facility that the White House claimed needed little security due to pythons and alligators surrounding it, the report said.
"The water seeped into the site the one that earlier in day the states top emergency chief had boasted was ready to withstand the winds of a 'high-end' Category 2 hurricane and streamed all over electrical cables on the floor," wrote reporters Syra Ortiz Blanes, Ana Ceballos, and Alex Harris.
They quoted Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, as saying, For those people that dont think were taking that into consideration. This is Florida, by the way. We have a hurricane plan.
But The Herald reported "that at one point the roof was shaking as the rain pounded down, drowning out Gov. Ron DeSantis voice as he spoke to reporters."
Spectrum News reporter Jason Delgado posted video of the flooding, and of DeSantis trying to talk over the cacophony.
Link to tweet
However, I remind myself how many Hispanics voted for Trump. This has been posted in the Jewish group. I am a Jew when I am horrified a by ICEs But before I take action, I wanna see the Latino community take some responsibility for putting Trump in Office before I am active in any kind of protest. Its one of the reasons why I havent been protesting, but did canvassing trips to Wisconsin in the Supreme Court election from Chicago.
The whole to thing is offensive ... the last I heard the earth belonged to everyone. Isn't that what Matthew, Beautitudes and Sermon on the Mount were all about? The human race has become grotesque.
RockCreek
(1,036 posts)Aushwitz was a death camp. Gas Chambers.
Alligator Dachau would not offend nearly as much.
(If I remember correctly it was the first camp built, as a concentration camp for political prisoners). Sorry it doesn't have the same ring as AA, but the historical distortion and (current) exaggeration of the AA alliteration name goes way too far.
tmars505
(18 posts)My father was a Combat Engineer in Europe during WWII , and the very few times he spoke with me about the war, he talked about the camps. He told me that they were filthy rotting places of indescribable evil, torture, and cruelty. To envision places like that, and actually construct them takes a strength of evil personality
That said, alligator alcatraz was created from the ambitions, racism, and cruelty of a wannabe dictator. A person who's personality and mind is not even strong enough to decide on chips or fries with his hamburger. You know, the short fuck who has to wear lifts to even see over the bushes to see the rainbow. Trumpism will be dying soon, and so will the reign of rainbow ronnie, and I believe the American people will turn away in disgust from him, his family, and trump's family
LetMyPeopleVote
(166,448 posts)Link to tweet
They have their own private Gestapo of unidentified masked marauders and are building Concentration/Death Camps nationwide to imprison the ICE Gestapos human bounty.
Do not be deceived. These camps are not only for black and brown immigrants. They will soon house the Trump Regimes domestic enemies.
This is only the beginning. Want to know their next move? Study the history of the Third Reich.

AloeVera
(3,274 posts)The answer for me is yes. Such comparisons are belittling. There is no comparison.
Though I am not a Jew, my father was, by ancestry. That side of my family had close and extended family who perished at Auschwitz. It was where nearly all Hungarian Jews, numbering nearly half a million, where deported and exterminated, most of them gassed on arrival - the largest group of Jews to my knowledge at Auschwitz.
What Trump is doing is vile and my heart goes out to all who suffer now and will suffer there and likely will DIE there. I understand the need to ring alarm bells. It IS evocative of concentration camps. But Auschwitz, a death camp mostly for Jews but many other groups too of unimaginable and incomparable horror, should be left out of it.
Behind the Aegis
(55,522 posts)Though mostly by those who aren't why the question was asked here. This has run its course.