Of all the nations of Europe conquered by the Nazis, Denmark had the best record of protecting its Jews. When Jews were ordered to wear the yellow star, the King of Denmark wore a yellow star. When the Danes got word that the Jews were to be rounded up, a network of Danish citizens managed to warn almost every Jew in Denmark and then ferry them across the North Sea to neutral Sweden, which also is to be congratulated for taking them in.
Now the council of Randers, a Danish town of about 60,000, voted this week to require public day care centers and kindergartens to include pork on their lunch menus.
Denmark is a big exporter of pig meat, but that is not why this law was adopted. It is clearly a slap at the Muslim immigrants. Of course, it is also an inadvertent slap against any Jews who live in Randers. What a sad day for a country that I had always admired.
[Information on the Randers policy is from Dan Bilefsky, “Mandatory Pork: Menu Rule in Denmark Opens New Front in Immigration Debate, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2016, p. A10.]
No comments:
Post a Comment