Early last week, President Donald Trump unceremoniously dismissed seven members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council — appointees of the Biden administration — and days later announced replacement appointees.
Those dismissed included former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and former Labor Secretary Tom Perez. The firings were insulting. They were carried out unceremoniously, by email. And they mark a deeply unsettling intrusion of politics into an institution that should remain above partisanship.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s mission — to preserve the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and to educate future generations about the consequences of hatred — is not political. It is moral. Trump’s actions ignore that solemn commitment.
Equally troubling is the fact that the dismissals were not accompanied by any public rationale. Instead, they were followed by Trump’s announcement within days of new appointees to the council, including David Friedman, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, and Sebastian Gorka, a controversial former White House advisor known more for incendiary rhetoric than Holocaust scholarship. While some of Trump’s new picks may have a credible interest in Holocaust remembrance, the offensive manner in which these changes were made does harm to the credibility of the museum and its administration.
The stunning politicization of the USHMM has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) issued a forceful letter urging Trump to reverse the dismissals, calling them “an affront to the memory of Holocaust victims and survivors.” And several conservative Jewish leaders, Holocaust educators and even past Republican appointees to the council have voiced concerns.
The White House defended the new appointments by emphasizing their “unwavering commitment to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.” That’s great. But the focus is wrong. Support for Israel should not be conflated with the broader, wholly apolitical mission of Holocaust education. That mission is at once simple and complex — bearing witness to genocide, honoring the victims and ensuring that “Never Again” remains a living commitment — not about championing a political worldview.
We are troubled by a disturbing pattern of the Trump administration to reshape traditionally nonpartisan institutions to reflect partisan priorities. From public broadcasting to scientific advisory panels, the Trump administration has moved to subvert independence in favor of ideological alignment. And, in the case of the Holocaust Museum Council, such moves risk reducing historical memory to another front in the culture war.
At a time when Holocaust denial and distortion are on the rise — online, in classrooms, even in political discourse — the importance of credible, diverse leadership at the Holocaust Memorial Council is important.
As a practical matter, we recognize that neither the firings nor the new appointments will be rescinded. But we hope a lesson can be learned from the ham-handed manner in which the whole process unfolded. We therefore call on the administration to commit that, going forward, when it comes to the memory of the Holocaust it will honor shared values, nonpartisan integrity and moral clarity.
Some things must remain above politics. The Holocaust is one of them. ■
How did the “non-political actors”, Ron Klain, Susan Rice and and Tom Perez get on the USHMC in the first place? Me thinks that the Exponent’s editorial staff is guilty of political outrage.