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Recently, two vanity license plates spotted in Anchorage lit up social media and made local and national news. The plates read “FUHRER” and “3REICH.” Eva Gardner, who had family members killed in the Holocaust, contacted the DMV after seeing the first one. She emailed, “The text is ‘FUHRER,’ a word that is effectively synonymous with Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazis who was responsible for millions of genocidal deaths, mostly of Jews. You can confirm this through a simple web search of the word.”
Elected officials, Twitter stars, prominent bloggers, the Department of Motor Vehicles and community leaders began weighing in. Jamie Allard, an Anchorage Assemblywoman, posted on social media,
“Führer means leader or guide in Deutsch, Reich is realm. … The progressives have put a spin on it and created their own definition.”
When asked about the possible context of “3Reich,” Allard said it simply doesn’t matter.
It does matter. Context is important. Here, the context isn’t political correctness. It’s history. The vanity plates encompass two historical facts. Encyclopedia Britannica defines Fuhrer: “Nazi title. Führer, also spelled Fuehrer, German Führer, (’Leader’), title used by Adolf Hitler to define his role of absolute authority in Germany’s Third Reich (1933–45).” The Third Reich was the official Nazi designation for Hitler’s regime.
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it,” said Edmund Burke, who supported the grievances of the American 13 colonies against King George III.
The words Fuhrer and Third Reich don’t just injure Jews. They wound America’s World War II veterans, Jewish or not, their families, and other Americans impacted by that war. I know. A more oblique reference to the Fuhrer and his Reich stirred my father.
Joseph Van Brocklin was 17 when WWII ended. While he did not serve in that war, he had friends and family who did. He became a career Marine and was an “old man” in Vietnam, a Chief Warrant Officer who served in Da Nang. During his Marines Corps career, he served with many WWII veterans.
In 1964, when I was 10 and my brother was 14, surfer’s crosses started becoming popular. My brother and I separately bought ourselves one at G.C. Murphy’s, a five-and-dime.
TIME magazine reported only parents seemed upset by the connotation. My father forbade us to wear them. To me, he simply said they looked too much like a medal given to Nazi soldiers in WWII. At 10, I didn’t know about the Iron Cross, a German WWII medal.
Recently, I asked my brother if he remembered our surfer’s crosses. He did. He got into a “discussion” with Dad – flexing his adolescent independence. Dad explained it was what that symbol meant to those who had fought and sacrificed to defeat Hitler and Nazism, and their families. Craig argued that the surfer’s cross had nothing to do with that. (Think Beach Boys.) Dad ruled.
I asked my brother if he would’ve worn his surfer’s cross if Dad hadn’t forbidden him. He paused, then said, “No, he made me feel too ashamed, because of what it meant to American veterans.”
The Veteran Affairs website notes,
“The second World War is remembered as a time when many Americans made enormous sacrifices on foreign lands and at home to stop the rise of tyranny and the Axis powers. Those Americans spearheaded what’s widely regarded as ‘The Greatest Generation.’”
Perhaps Allard and the plates owner(s) don’t know or remember history. Perhaps they should take the “FUHRER” and “3REICH” plates to the Pioneer Home or the next Veteran’s Day celebration. They might learn from the reactions of those few remaining WWII veterans, and their families, and the families of the veterans who died fighting Hitler and his regime. Allard, a veteran herself, might find it a poignant lesson.
Then they might head over to Congregation Beth Sholom. Rabbi Abram Goodstein reminded Allard in an open letter that Anchorage’s Jewish community “includes many members who have had parents, grandparents, and great grandparents perish in the Holocaust. These deaths still haunt every Jewish community around the world.”
This isn’t a free speech issue. The driver(s) are free to parade FUHRER and 3REICH around on bumper stickers, clothing, tattoos and flags. Indeed, they’re free to burn the flag. But the rest of us, including those who paid dearly for everyone’s free speech, are right to demand that our democratic government, which issues license plates, not be an accomplice to a desecration of our nation’s history. Maybe Allard, the driver(s), and some others of us might do well to learn the difference between political correctness and history.
Val Van Brocklin is a former state and federal prosecutor in Alaska who now trains and writes on criminal justice topics nationwide. She lives in Anchorage.
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