Emhoff Calls for Fighting Anti-Jewish Tropes on Auschwitz Visit
- US second gentleman using historic role to speak against hate
- Emhoff hosting meetings with Jewish leaders, European envoys
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff lays wreaths honoring victims of the Nazi regime by the death wall during the Holocaust Remembrance Day at the former Auschwitz I site in Oswiecim, Poland, on Jan. 27.
Photographer: Omar Marques/Getty ImagesSecond Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s emotional visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau marked something of a triumph for Jewish Americans: one of their own representing the US at the epicenter of the Nazi genocide that tried — but failed — to wipe out their people.
But Emhoff’s six-day visit to Europe is also highlighting a painful reality. Poland, from where his family fled persecution more than a century ago, faces rising antisemitism, along with the US and other countries, Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, has taken up the fight against it as his signature issue, even though President Joe Biden’s administration has few tools outside the bully pulpit to stamp it out.