Why do vans have jewish stars

The Anti-Defamation League, the preeminent Jewish civil rights organization, has also addressed the issue. Furthermore, Snopes. Nevertheless, when it was brought to my attention as an unsuspecting Vans lover, I was shocked and soon stopped.

My older brother thought I was ridiculous for giving it the amount of thought that I had and dared me to contact the company. In , I got the email address of a Vans representative and wrote them, explaining that I was a student trying to get to the bottom of the rumors.

The email I received in response attempted to reassure me that the markings were in no way an act of anti-Semitism. The email also had a link attached that sent me to a web page explaining the skateboard-friendly geometric logic of the design. People would still buy the shoes and they would avoid any anti-Semitism.

The video, which is in Hebrew, has attracted over 6, views so far. The discovery of the swastika in the shoe recalls a somewhat similar case from when a swastika was discovered under the insole of a Steve Madden brand shoe. To top all of this, an Israeli girl actually cut off the bottom of her shoe and found a Swastika mark on the inside of the shoe. Sure enough I looked at the bottom, and in the rubber soles, plain as day is this pattern of Jewish Stars.

Rather, the six-sided motif was placed there in all innocence: The honeycomb shape of that portion of the sole provides more secure footing for the skaters who have come to favor this brand in part for that very reason.

An e-mail rumor long circulated on the Internet suggests that the maker of Vans skateboarding shoes is anti-Jewish because some of their shoes come with a pattern resembling a Star of David on a portion of their outsole bottom. While ADL understands that the use of the Star of David pattern in this context may be offensive to some, there is no factual basis to believe that the maker of Vans shoes incorporated the six-pointed star design in an attempt to insult Jews.

From the email:. Ruth Westheimer served as a sniper in Israel. FACT: Actually, kind of true! World-famous sex psychologist Dr. Ruth, then just Karola Ruth Siegel, was 16 years old when she joined the Haganah as a sniper in One of the deadliest things that neighbors, acquaintances, colleagues, and even friends could do was denounce Jews to Nazi German authorities. An unknown number chose to do so.

In doing so, they brought about their deaths. Individuals also profited from the Holocaust. This was part of the widespread theft and plunder that accompanied the genocide. Most often individuals contributed to the Holocaust through inaction and indifference to the plight of their Jewish neighbors. Sometimes these individuals are called bystanders.

The Holocaust specifically refers to the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews. However, there were also millions of other victims of Nazi persecution and murder.

In the s, the regime targeted a variety of alleged domestic enemies within German society. The first group targeted by the Nazi regime consisted of political opponents.

These included officials and members of other political parties and trade union activists. Political opponents also included people simply suspected of opposing or criticizing the Nazi regime.

Political enemies were the first to be incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps. They were arrested because they refused to swear loyalty to the government or serve in the German military. The Nazi regime also targeted Germans whose activities were deemed harmful to German society. These included men accused of homosexuality , persons accused of being professional or habitual criminals, and so-called asocials such as people identified as vagabonds, beggars, prostitutes, pimps, and alcoholics.

Tens of thousands of these victims were incarcerated in prisons and concentration camps. The regime also forcibly sterilized and persecuted Afro-Germans. People with disabilities were also victimized by the Nazi regime. Before World War II, Germans considered to have supposedly unhealthy hereditary conditions were forcibly sterilized.

Once the war began, Nazi policy radicalized. People with disabilities, especially those living in institutions, were considered both a genetic and a financial burden on Germany. These people were targeted for murder in the so-called Euthanasia Program. The Nazi regime employed extreme measures against groups considered to be racial, civilizational, or ideological enemies. This included Roma Gypsies , Poles especially the Polish intelligentsia and elites , Soviet officials , and Soviet prisoners of war.

The Nazis perpetrated mass murder against these groups. As Allied forces moved across Europe in a series of offensives, they overran concentration camps. There they liberated the surviving prisoners, many of whom were Jews. The Allies also encountered and liberated the survivors of so-called death marches.

These forced marches consisted of groups of Jewish and non-Jewish concentration camp inmates who had been evacuated on foot from camps under SS guard. But liberation did not bring closure. Many Holocaust survivors faced ongoing threats of violent antisemitism and displacement as they sought to build new lives. Many had lost family members, while others searched for years to locate missing parents, children, and siblings.

Survival took a variety of forms. But, in every case, survival was only possible because of an extraordinary confluence of circumstances, choices, help from others both Jewish and non-Jewish , and sheer luck. Some Jews survived the Holocaust by escaping German-controlled Europe.

Those who immigrated to the United States, Great Britain, and other areas that remained beyond German control were safe from Nazi violence.

For example, approximately , Polish Jews fled the German occupation of Poland. These Jews survived the war under harsh conditions after Soviet authorities deported them further east into the interior of the Soviet Union. A smaller number of Jews survived inside German-controlled Europe. They often did so with the help of rescuers. Rescue efforts ranged from the isolated actions of individuals to organized networks, both small and large. Throughout Europe, there were non-Jews who took grave risks to help their Jewish neighbors, friends, and strangers survive.

For example, they found hiding places for Jews, procured false papers that offered protective Christian identities, or provided them with food and supplies. Other Jews survived as members of partisan resistance movements. Finally, some Jews managed, against enormous odds, to survive imprisonment in concentration camps, ghettos, and even killing centers.

While the Holocaust ended with the war, the legacy of terror and genocide did not. Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators had devastated or completely destroyed thousands of Jewish communities across Europe. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, those Jews who survived were often confronted with the traumatic reality of having lost their entire families and communities.

Some were able to go home and chose to rebuild their lives in Europe. Many others were afraid to do so because of postwar violence and antisemitism. In the immediate postwar period, those who could not or would not return home often found themselves living in displaced persons camps. There, many had to wait years before they were able to immigrate to new homes.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the world has struggled to come to terms with the horrors of the genocide, to remember the victims, and to hold perpetrators responsible.

These important efforts remain ongoing. We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors. Trending keywords:. Featured Content. Tags Find topics of interest and explore encyclopedia content related to those topics. Browse A-Z Find articles, photos, maps, films, and more listed alphabetically. For Teachers Recommended resources and topics if you have limited time to teach about the Holocaust.

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