HEFNU Condemns Recent Comments by Chicago FOP President
August 30, 2021
The Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University joins other Chicago-area organizations in condemning a recent statement by Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara. In that statement, Catanzara compared Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s vaccination mandate for city employees to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Catanzara’s statement demonstrates either a distorted understanding of Nazi policies toward Jews OR a willful misrepresentation of them to silence civic discourse. There is no excuse for either. The Chicago region is rich with resources related to Holocaust education, including the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University (hef.northwestern.edu), which we urge Catanzara to utilize. Well-informed civic discourse lies at the heart of democracy, a notion clear to any student of the Holocaust.