Senator Obama’s latest gaffe has his uncle liberating Auschwitz:
Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz. He said the family legend is that, upon returning from war, his uncle spent six months in an attic. “Now obviously, something had really affected him deeply, but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain,” Obama said. “That’s why this idea of making sure that every single veteran, when they are discharged, are screened for post-traumatic stress disorder and given the mental health services that they need – that’s why it’s so important.”
As many bloggers have already pointed out, this is true only if Obama’s uncle was fighting for the Soviets.
Now, it could be Obama misspoke and didn’t mean Auschwitz or it could be something else. For example, in 2002, Senator Obama mentioned Auschwitz in a speech, without mentioning his uncle:
My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton’s army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don’t oppose all wars.
Like Auschwitz, Treblinka was captured by the Soviets. What exactly does Senator Obama mean then when he’s talking about ”fellow troops?” I read it as “fellow American troops,” which would be historically impossible.
It sounds like if the Auschwitz statement from Memorial Day about his uncle wasn’t an error on Obama’s part, then there are some potential problems with the Obama family narrative as it relates to WWII.