Labor plays the Nazi card
A t his 21st birthday costume party, a young Dominique Perrottet, donned some sort of Nazi costume. When this recently came to light, he stated publicly how deeply ashamed he was and apologised effusively particularly to the Jewish community. He also paid a quickly arranged visit to Sydney’s Holocaust Museum in Darlinghurst, which has become almost a pilgrimage for public figures who misuse Nazism or the Holocaust.
There is quite a history of wearing Nazi garb in the entertainment industry. When I first saw Jewish comedian Mel Brooks prancing around dressed as Hitler, I found it confronting and disrespectful. Somehow, I survived and continued to enjoy the comic genius of Mel Brooks. The hit TV series Hogan’s Heroes set in a Nazi German prisoner-of -war camp had Nazi costumes aplenty.
There is no serious claim Dom Perrottet ever displayed any personal neo-Nazi characteristics so likely he wore the costume for the amusement of those attending the birthday party, nothing more.
The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) was contacted by an attendee of a bad taste dress up party. The costume put together was of a Taliban terrorist with fake beard, turban, Islamic style robe and carrying a fake gun. No one suggested that such a costume meant the wearer had jihadist tendencies or sympathies.
Nevertheless, by today’s standards what Perrottet wore is unacceptable. Any Nazi imagery outside a memorial or educational context is particularly confronting and offensive to the Jewish community. It is seen as disrespectful to the six million Jews and other victims murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Read the article by David Adler in The Spectator.