The Nazi death camp that Barack Obama's great-uncle helped liberate

Barack Obama, at a Memorial Day event in Las Cruces, N.M., credited his great-uncle, Charlie Payne, as being among the U.S. troops who liberated the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.

The trouble with that bit of history -- as the Republican National Committee pointed out today -- is that the Soviet Red Army was the military force that liberated the World War II death camp.

The RNC seized the opportunity to fire off a news release, saying that “unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there’s no way Obama’s statement yesterday can be true. Obama’s frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief.”

The Obama campaign soon acknowledged that the Democratic candidate made a mistake. It explained that Obama’s great-uncle was in the 89th Infantry Division that helped liberate another notorious death camp, Buchenwald. Obama, the campaign said, “is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II -- especially the fact that his great-uncle was part of liberating of one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald.”

All of which raises the question: What's worse, Obama's apparent gaffe or the RNC pouncing on a Holocaust-related historical mistake for political advantage?

-- Stuart Silverstein

Comments

[Michelle]

Candidates make gaffes all the time. The Obama campaign admitted the mistake.

I actually think this gaffe may actually HELP Obama in the long run. Sure he made a mistake but this mistake may HIGHLIGHT the fact that Obama's family is not so "foreign" and "unAmerican" as the GOP is trying to portray him as.

Instead Obama has WWII HEROES in his family his great uncle who helped to liberate the Jews in Europe.

I think the MORE people learn about Obama's family particularly the caucasian side, the less "scared' Americans will be about Obama.

[shirlin]

The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves. Obama's family member did help in WW2 liberate Jews from the death camps. Try speaking 24 hrs a day for the last 18 months publicly with folks out to knee cap you each second and see if you won't make an occasional mistake. Watch McCain confuse Shii's and Sunis, etc.But the Republicans are like the Clintons--without shame.

[keith]

Tie for first place by both sides I think.

If BO was really as into this event as he claims, he would probably know the right camp. Some staffer dug this up, would hate to be sitting in that person's chair right now, if they are even able to sit.

As for the RNC, not very deft, and really sets the table for McCain's (Mr Economy-challenged) weaknesses to be laid bare, which I guess they would be anyway. This may promise to be the most ham-fisted presidential race ever.

Politics is about undressing your opponent as much as you can, always has been, always will be, there is nothing that will ever change that.

[Mark]

Would it matter more if his uncle was at Auschwitz rather than Buchenwald? Unless his uncle was somewhere in Kansas during the war, that will be something.

[aw]

his great-uncle?

sheeshhh...talk about deep dredging!!!...

yea...Barack and Michelle..keep dredging!...

SHEESH..

[peter]

I wish the Might Outrage Machine which is poised to go after things like this could spend its time going after truely outrageous things - like FOX commentators who joke about "knocking off" Obama.

That is #1 on YouTube right now... but the echo machine in the media is oddly quiet. Shameful.

[jo]

If Hillary said what Obama said the mdeia and part of the democratic party would jump all over her and we'd never hear the end of this. But Obama makes stuff up and lies and it's perfectly okay with them. This is why Obama will lose to McCain in November!

[Adi]

That's what I call misspeaking. It happens to anyone that you get names mixed up, you use the wrong word or you refer to the wrong person. As long as the facts don't change, it's an honest mistake. It's not like he invented a whole lot of sniper fire and a dramatic landing.

What the GOP tried to do is disgusting and in fact might end up backfiring on them. They certainly helped get the word out that Obama's great-uncle is a war hero.

[Joe]

Wait? You mean Obama's relatives weren't Commies? Somebody tell Hannity!

[Joe]

Wait? You mean Obama's relatives weren't Commies? Somebody tell Hannity!

[Mary]

The media can hype Clinton's one remark on RFK's primary race until it is a bigger story than the China Earthquake. But let's give Obama a pass on every stupid utterance (and there have been many). Pleeeeeease!

[Jakes]

What is the point of all of this. We just need a new political party, and we need to stop having such stupid articles. I swear this is a Brittany Spearsesque blog. Why don't we talk issues...?

Waste our time?!!!?

[Matt]

The RNC is absolutely correct. This just serves to demonstrate how Obama's clearly deliberate outright distortions raise questions about his ability to lead the country. Republicans are much better at hiding their distortions.

[tomg]

Buchenwald was the sister camp to Auschwitz. TIME TO SEND ANOTHER $25 to Obama

[Jim]

Stuart,

Hmmm, now wait a minute. Who is it exactly who is trying to use the Holocaust for political gain? Who is it who is basking in the reflected glory of the liberators of the death camps? Uh - I believe that would be Senator Obama. I don't see how you can fault the RNC for pointing out that his statement was inaccurate (though it's not clear to me that his factual error is a great calamity).

[Gregory Plante]

Please. He is an empty suit looking for anything that can legitimize himself. He keeps talking about everyone else around him that is great because he has no significant accomplishments himself. This guy is a serious clown that has more "gaffes" than accomplishments.

[DCam]

For all those RNC'ers "pouncing" on this, I'd like to see how many people (of any party) knew which armies liberated which camps before Obama's comment. It's not relevant to today's campaign and America's future.

[tired of the media]

So when Obama misspeaks its an honest mistake, and the evil RNC are attacking him, but when McCain or Clinton misspeak its all a part of their long string of lies and part of the machine...grow up, he embellished, was called on it, and takes the wrist slapping...move on

[RB Wagoner]

It is amazing how quick you are to excuse Senator Obama. He also said that there are 57 states??? If a conservative makes a slip there is no forgiveness but a liberal can make a slip and they are only human. Just treat everyone fair.

[Joe Merican]

Did the RNC mention that Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush was a financier of Hitler's Third Reich, who had his assets frozen by congress for Trading with the Enemy due to his backing of the Nazis?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

[BL]

Charlie Payne was probably a relative of Jeremia wright.WAKE UP AMERICANS, this guy lies about everything. ASK him why he DID NOT vote for the invasion of IRAQ. Maybe because its a MUSLIM country.If you americans want a President like the one who sat for 20 years and absorbed all of that garbage and cannot denouce him, you are as sick as he is.....

[Susan Powers]

It's just a little hypocritical, Clinton makes a mistake and she's a beotch, Obama makes a mistake and it's... ok. If he was going to get praise on the backs of his forefathers he should have known the details.

[Mary]

Does the RNC really want to open this topic up for discussion? At least Obama's relative really existed and did help liberate a Nazi death camp. Anyone remember the speeches when Reagan the Great Communicator cited an act of heroism in which a U.S. Navy pilot won the Congressional Medal of Honor. The incident he referred to was part of a movie, but Reagan remembered it as real life.

[Devesion]

It is sad to see our government point out more negatives then positives. This is an example...

[joe]

Was it the same campaign pogue that had little Al Gore sitting around the dinner table singing the "Union Label" song fifteen years before it was written?

[acknon]

A self-righteous columnest (or, whatever) writing a pointless blurb is worse.

[dave]

I'm not sure what I enjoy more; The story's or the comments. Every story has a twist... The only question is; What side are you on? Politics....
You All have too much money, That's why there's so little trust.

[Obamama]

But now Obama's mouthpieces are saying yet a different camp -- sounds like Oberdohrf?

So which is it? Where is this great-uncle -- he says he had an uncle on his mother's side, when she was an only child -- and what is the truth?

Every day, something with this guy, something he gets wrong about geography, history, etc. -- but even his own family history? Claiming uncles he didn't have? In some concentration camp or another?

Too many lies. He can't be trusted.

[Obamama]

But now Obama's mouthpieces are saying yet a different camp -- sounds like Oberdohrf?

So which is it? Where is this great-uncle -- he says he had an uncle on his mother's side, when she was an only child -- and what is the truth?

Every day, something with this guy, something he gets wrong about geography, history, etc. -- but even his own family history? Claiming uncles he didn't have? In some concentration camp or another?

Too many lies. He can't be trusted.

[Ted]

I really don't think it matters when it comes down to insignificant details. We should focus on actual simple solutions to problems that persist and are continually ignored. Such as the large budget deficit. I wonder where those stimulus checks came from... Does anyone care anymore? Here we are arguing about who deserves more money, or what project deserves more money, or who should be taxed more, and yet people don't seem to get the point that maybe if the government did not waste so much, there would be no need for higher taxes. It has been statistically proven that even if you raise taxes, the governmental revenue will remain around 20% of GDP. I guess since being rich is a bad thing, burning gas is a bad thing, and no one cares that all three popular presidential candidates eat dead animals everyday. It's socially acceptable murder.

[Hans Meiser]

Oh come on, RNC! The fact stands, Obama's great-uncle did help liberate a nazi death camp. The location is so important now?
If I contrast this to the fact that McCain can't differentiate Sunni from Shiah Muslims, even with his frequent Middle East trips, I'll gladly go with Obama's mistake.

[Joe]

It's definitely more of a help to Obama. I had no idea his family had such great war heroes until now.

The Republicans don't seem to know why ex-Republicans like myself hate them, and I'm not too inclined to help them figure it out. By trying to denigrate the liberators of Buchenwald as Communists, the Republicans only dig themselves further into the hole.

Worse, they show how terribly desperate they are to pounce on any stray word. That they think something like saying the name of the wrong Nazi death camp will help them insults my intelligence.

[jf]

This is an absolutely ridiculous argument. There is a difference between Obama remembering the name of a liberated camp of 65+ years ago and John McCain confusing Sunnis and Shiites of present day.

Obama's uncle helped liberate Buchenwald. He witnessed the same horrors as any other camp. The point is that he didn't receive the psychological help he needed after this traumatic event, an instance which happens all too often to our troops coming home today. THAT is what was being expressed.

The RNC should stop being picky about little details that don't really matter.

[anon]

And what's even worse than that, acknon, is people judging others when they themselves can't even spell columnist. Obama 08!

[bill reith]

He was wrong. I'll take that kind of mistake to the kind the RNC made in pushing the point, any day of the week. It illustrates the type of political slime to which Obama presents the clear alternative.

[kiwi]

What has any candidates family or family history got to do with their ability to run the USA in todays world? A bit like saying the price of fish ten years ago has affected the way the moon rotates today. Stick to what the candidate can do for the USA today, the rest is history.

[corky reinhart]

Right: candidates make gaffes all the time--but let Hillary Clinton just mention the historical fact of RFK's horrifying assassination as a way to highlight her own continued hopes for the nomination and she is crucified by columnists and Obama's campaign. I, for one, am tired of the double standard protecting Obama. As Mr. Obama says repeatedly: "don't attack me, don't attack my family, that's old politics;" but its OK for his campaign--never Mr. Obama himself--to raise allegations of racism or, in the RFK matter, imply strongly that Hillary was hoping--incredibly--for harm to come to Mr. Obama.

[Elizabeth]

What does any of this have to do with the race to the White House. Who Cares??

[new york paul]

Actually, this article fails to make the distinction between the death camps and forced-labor camps. While it may not seem trivial, it is an important historical difference between them. The work camps were set up in the early 30s; the death camps—where people arrived and were herded directly into gas chambers and crematoria—were part of the official "final solution" officially authorized by the Nazis.

[AH]

First, I'm not bashing Mr. Obama here...

but that's a pretty big detail to slip up on. Regardless of how much time he spends speaking "with folks out to knee cap" him, I would think he would know the major details of this important piece of family history. And it's not like "Auschwitz" and "Buchenwald" are easily mistaken.

Either way, I applaud the service of his relatives, though I'm not sure how that speaks to his personal patriotism, his abilities to lead, his policy positions, or any other metric related to presidential preparedness. It seems to me that his unabashed use of this bait story for political purposes (and distinctly lacking any real point) is what is shameful. But, after all, he is in politics...and what is politics without fact-twisting, manipulation, and the unabashed use of psy-ops for personal gain?

[Barney]

I have no doubt his great-uncle was under sniper fire at the time of liberation.

[hgoldman]

Good question...This guy Obama is not to be underestimated...H

[Philip]

When BO lies it's laughable how there is always a gullable supporter, not to mention the media at large, who will go out on a limb and defend the lie. Its about time the supporters of this demigogue learn to think for themselves.

[Matt Catone]

Please, if obama was making a concerted effort to lie I am fairly sure he is intelligent enough to make it a better one.

[Glenn McComas]

Obama made a claim about Auschwitz that was factually impossible. The most disturbing part of his claim is that nobody in the press would even bother to check out his claim. They simply regurgitate every word he says as fact. If the RNC hadn't pointed out the obvious flaw in his claim nobody would have. The press would have been content with having us believe that Al Gore invented the internet, discovered Love Canal, and that Hillary dodged sniper fire in Bosnia. What is the RNC supposed to do?

[Ryan]

That is a major blunder. I find it interesting when Clinton said she was under gun fire she was a horrible person because it wasn't true. We all know she probably thought she was under gun fire. It would be easy to understand that your in a war zone and you hear a noise you think it's gun fire. Obama makes a gaffe and it was all a silly error. In reality it shows how little he knows about history and he makes speeches that are written for him. Why are they waiting until now to come out and say this about his great uncle. People have been questioning his patriotism for a quite a while ... I don't trust this man.

[Anonymous]

Although many atrocities and deaths occurred in Buchenwald, it is not considered a "death camp" by Holocaust historians. A note that sometimes people make mistakes, as seen tin the article. Although Obama had his geography wrong, it still doesn't take away from the fact that he and his family should be honored that his great uncle was a liberator.

[James McNaugton]

I observe the frequent mention of the liberation of "jews" at Buchenwald. It may come as a surprise to many, but Buchenwald was also a slave labour camp where a large number of detainees were forced labour from Poland, Russia, France etc. A great many of the jews had already been murdered by the time of liberation. It is incorrect to point to the entry of the Americans into this camp as a rescue effort for the benefit of the "jews". Rather, it was an event that saved thousands of people, many who were not jews, from certain death.

More importantly, it is playing fast and loose with the facts to assume that somehow the efforts of the late Mr. Payne can be used to demonstrate that Mr. Obama is a great American and the saviour of the "jews" (hint, hint) as this story is now being spun. Mr. Obama is his own man and his life is distinct and seperate from that of Mr. Payne's. To link the two without any consideration to the deceased who never really knew Mr. Obama is inappropriate. Overall, a rather cheap and disrespectful attempt to gain ground on the back of another and the thousands of innocent people slaughtered at Buchenwald, by Mr. Obama. It is unfortunate that too many Americans do not do their research before making these assumptions.

[Occam]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I barely knew my great uncles, never met most of them. I'm sure most of them fought in WWII because most men of their age did. Some of them may have even liberated concentration camps. There were lots of such camps, thousands, so the chances of liberating one if you were In the European that were high. I do know one thing, no one set around and talked about what grandma's or grandpa's bothers did in the war.

This whole “uncle” episode, mistakes aside, smells like a lame attempt at pandering up some Jewish support.

[McCain is Bush]

The RNC is attempting to use Clintonesque tactics to smear the good name of a war hero. No doubt this undertaking is at the hands of a snot nosed political statition who has no tie in the the event they are clamoring about. It is sickening that the RNC would stoop this low.