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

[Patra]

Come on, are some of you serious? So what he said one DEADLY DEATH camp and it was another... for this you want to crucify the man? I think not. I believe that some of you are just too immature to support Senator Obama for President. It could have been Buchenwald, Aushwitz or Dachau - they were ALL EVIL places with HORROR stories. Senator Obama's great-uncle DID liberate the poor Jewish people in one of these camps, and you should be ashamed of yourselves for comparing his gaff with Hillary's non-apologetic goof.
People eating sardines from the trash are still against a man who wants you to have respectful, gainful jobs and be able to afford a lifestyle, and yet, people are still against Obama?
The 800 lb gorilla with the 400 lb Albatross on it's back and the 50 ft cobra around its leg is: Can the American public overlook a man's race in order to progress and have a glimmer of personal success in 2008? OR is America all talk about FREEDOM, JUSTICE, EQUALITY, Mom's Apple Pie, etc. while truly being the most RACIST people on the planet that would rather die than practice what it preaches in its own doctrines while falling helplessly behind the global economics of China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the UK?

[Susanne]

Buchenwald was a slave labor camp and not a death camp; more importantly, it was not a camp for Jews, but for political prisoners – i. e. Communists, Socialists and Union Leaders — Soviet prisoners of war who fought for the Red Army and also a lot of homosexuals.

There were some Jewish prisoners who had been Communist mayors and such in the Weimar Republic, but by and large, it was a political camp.

I don't think its coincidence that Obama mixed it up. It gets you a less lot approval in the U.S. to have liberated Commies and gays and he knows.

http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=gvKVLcMVIuG&b=395203

[Diane]

I don't know about anyone else, but I refer to my great-uncles as uncle. So he did not make a mistake there. He did get the name of the concentration camp wrong - big whoop. Those camps were horrific and his Uncle Payne was a hero for helping to liberate one. I would be proud to have both men in my family.

As for his "inexperience" - so what. McCain and Clinton's experience have put us into a recession, people can't afford health insurance, gas and, in some cases, food. I don't think this country can stand anymore of their experience. It's time for someone new - a statesman and diplomat. It's time for Obama.

[Gene]

Confucius sez 'That which is emptiest, rattles the loudest'

[Anonymous]

FYI a great uncle is not an uncle who is a really great guy. A great uncle is your parent's uncle. Therefore, his mother can be an only child because his great uncle would be her uncle.

Another way to put it is a great uncle is a sibling of your grandparents not your parents.

[Jared Mitchell]

Oh come on you people! Obama got one thing wrong: the name of the camp. The RNC then pounces on that comment for political gain and calls it a lie and says we can't trust him. Hillary's sniper fire comment is much much more dishonest; it was an outright fabrication designed to get political sympathy. Damn the RNC and damn Hillary: they both have their spin doctors working overtime to do anything to claw their ways to power.

[L Luther]

He admitted the mistake. That's more than we can say for a WHOLE LOT of politicians. I actually visited a concentration camp in Munich Germany (Dachau) and mistakenly said it was Aushwitz (which actually is located in the south of Poland) when recounting the day on my return. I had nothing to gain, and was corrected by one of my traveling companions. So hey, he is human. Let's get past it.

[Steve Schwartz]

Mr. Siverstein,
Are you sure that the initial infraction of fabricating lies to play a election Judiasm card isn't worse? I am sure he feels your pain.

I thank the RNC (it would have been someone else) to hold our leaders accountable.

Most Zionists I know wouldn't be so blind.

I pity you.

[Rex Danford]

What's worse" The allegedly reporter who was too lazy or just did not bother to check Obama's statement. Why was it necessary for the RNC to find misrepresentations by a candidate for the opposing party? Neither the vaunted free press nor Obama's well-financed staff vetted the story. Then, the reporter has the audacity to suggest it was worse for the RNC to get the facts right. Posing the question was a gutless way to try and scewer the GOP. Anyone care to wager that Silverstein is a registered Republican.

[SFwikifan]

To gacorrea, the Wikipedia expert who is so certain that Buchenwald was but one camp:

Why don't you search for "Ohrdruf forced labor camp" and maybe learn something.

[buddhistMonkey]

Is this really where the RNC wants to go? If so, then it should be noted that while Obama's great-uncle was liberating the prisoners of Buchenwald, George Bush's grandfather was helping to bankroll Hitler:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott_Bush

[Caroline Miniscule]

>>>The RNC is attempting to use Clintonesque tactics to smear the good name of a war hero.

McCainisBush has made this comment twice, and I wonder if he'll clarify it? Who is this war hero the RNC is attempting to smear? Obama's great uncle?

If so, how are they smearing his name? By pointing out he fought at Buchenwald, not Auswitz? How is that a smear???

[Juan Tomas]

Forget the fact that he didn't get the facts right, how does this in any way make him better qualified to Commander in Chief or President? By this logic, since I had a brother (not even a great-uncle!) that was a priest, I am fully qualified to be the next Pope!

Q. When did it become acceptable to take credit for the prebirth actions of our distant relatives? A. When we have no accomplishments of our own to provide direct credibility.

[M]

I would like to hear the GOP comment on George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, funding the Nazi war machine while Director of Union Banking Corp and involved with Consolidated Silesian Steel Company, Harriman 15 Corporation and Standard Oil - just to name a few.

[Phil]

He's talking about how 'proud' he is folks... would you take a second to consider that? He's so 'proud' that he didn't even check to see if those who wrote his speech were correct.

And you're voting for him? Standing up for him?
Why? So he can be 'proud' of being President?

You all make me sick. You're voting for a man not because he can steer this country in the right direction... not because he can fix our problems so that your children can have better lives than the hell they're destined for... nope.

You're voting for him because he's blackish.

That's all. That's it.

You aren't Americans. You think you are, but you're not.

Memorial Day... the irony. All those men dead in the ground, they gave their lives so that you Neanderthals could have some damn reality TV election.

[Jeff]

Same difference. Obama was trying to use it to his political advantage as well, only less directly so.

[Edwin Herdman]

Neither side is doing very well in this story. It's obviously a simple mistake, and should not have been called an exaggeration or a distortion by the RNC; on the other hand, Obama comes across as the same dilettante the RNC is happy to paint him as - even in family matters, which is embarrassing.

I know granddad's boring war stories is a horrible cliche, but it seems Obama wasn't paying attention here. If you aren't going to pay attention to your family, attempting to bask in their glories seems unwise.

[BJ stands for?]

PRECONDITIONS, PREPARATIONS, PREPARATION H for McCain. Weak! He never said he would have Castro over next day after the election, of course people would work on the goals and agenda and ensure they would move forward. People who keep harping this issue either are dumb or are trying to influence the dumb. I laugh my tookus off every time I hear McCain talk abot the "Castros" regime. Yeah, plans been working great for the last 40 years. And that Raul, what a dictator. Time to turn the page, golden oldies are over.

[Caroline Miniscule]

>>>As for his "inexperience" - so what. McCain and Clinton's experience have put us into a recession, people can't afford health insurance, gas and, in some cases, food.

Most people who don't have health insurance...can afford it. They just don't want to pay for it because they want SUVs and plasma TVs instead.

The recession has been caused by mortgagors giving loans to people who could not afford them, beause if they didn't they'd be labeled racist.

Families with no father in the house and 11 mouths to feed would certainly have a hard time paying for food...if they weren't on welfare.

[Mattiemae]

Okay, say you're a candidate for US President, and a current Senator in the US Senate...... Really??? Are you going to make a mistake like that??? What kind of people do you have working for you that could make a mistake like that? There was only one Auschwitz. How could you confuse that? My grandfather was a MP in the US army. He carried Nazi POWs from prisons, typically former prison camps like Auschwitz, Dachau, etc. to trials in places like Nuremberg. I never got that confused. How could a person, who is paid to research facts, miss a detail like that? Total manufacturing and exaggeration of facts??? I think so! Again, this goes to prove that Mr. Obama is so totally naive about the gullibility of the American people. Don't you wish we were all as stupid as he hopes we are???

[JB]

The crazy thing is that even if the story were completely made up it still wouldn't be nearly as bad as McCain not knowing the difference between Shiites and Sunnis!

Even making up a story for publicity wouldn't be as bad as revealing a fundamental and complete ignorance of the most important issue facing America. I wouldn't consider a person qualified unless he knows Islam's third sect, what caliphate followed the Umayyads, and where hussein's tomb is at (no I don't mean Saddam).

I'm not Muslim, but this stuff matters and there's far more to understanding the middle east than anyone appreciates. And yet McCain can't even keep Shia and Sunni straight. That's the guy we want to fix all the middle east problems caused by the last guy who didn't thing he needed to understand any of it first?

[John B.]

Why is it that every time a candidate makes a mistake or misspeaks, it's identified as a "gaffe?"

[Caroline Miniscule]

>>> Why on earth would he want to lie about the name of one over another?

You haven't been reading the comments. Auswitz was liberating Jews, Buchenwald wasn't. Obama is trying to court the Jewish vote. So he says Auswitz.

Typical politician.

[Lanny Davis Jr.]

Who calls their Great-anything by that title? Oh "Great Grandma", good night "second cousin" ... it's a familiar title and a non issue. I have spent too much time on it in the time its taken me to type ..

[Patty]

Some of you are bloomin' idiots! You cannot excuse any candidate running for constantly evoking memories of an assassination in this country especially for a man who had to get Secret Service the Day he announced. This is NOT funny. That's worse than like, heaven forbid, someone speaking about a female candidate being RAPED and it being deemed 'appropriate' or okay. When that candidate doesn't apologize [REALLY] for being offensive in the comments, it shows her as being HEARTLESS. Now for all you IDIOTS who think Buchenwald, Dachau, Aushwitz were all that different, you're PURE FOOLS- stop marrying your sister!
Why does Obama have to present his GREAT-uncle, Obamama??? What a stupid hick you are. His GREAT-uncle would be his MOTHER's UNCLE not her brother. JESUS, perhaps in YOUR family it's the same thing!
No wonder the US is well behind the U.K., China, Japan... hell even the Caribbeans are more educated than you mindless sheep.