Janice Friebaum can trace family members who were murdered at the Nazi death camp of Treblinka — two grandparents, three great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and countless cousins — among the millions of Jews killed in gas chambers during the Holocaust.
The politicization of the Holocaust amid the coronavirus pandemic has only undermined the barbarity inflicted on the victims of genocide, she said, adding that Americans may become "desensitized by false analogies" like equating mass murder with mask-wearing mandates.
But when she learned her home state of Arizona reportedly refurbished its gas chamber for executions, a method of death last used there more than two decades ago, she decided it warranted speaking out.
"Uniformly, Holocaust survivors and their descendants are nothing short of horrified of this form of execution being utilized," said Friebaum, vice president of the Phoenix Holocaust Association, a nonprofit group that documents experiences of survivors and educates about genocide.
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