Man wearing Nazi swastika in Southland Kmart
The granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor was brought to tears by an encounter with a man wearing a Nazi swastika in a Melbourne shopping centre.
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The granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor was left hysterical after an encounter with a man with a swastika in a suburban Melbourne Kmart.
Sonia, who asked her surname not be published, was shopping at Southland about 9pm yesterday with her teenage daughter when she saw the man “wearing a large red armband over his clothing with a hugely visible swastika”.
Sonia said the man was smiling and chatting with a Kmart security officer.
“I wanted to scream at him asking if he knew what that armband meant. Did he understand how six million Jews died as a result of this?”
She said she was shocked and thought of taking a photo of the man, but didn’t want to start a confrontation.
“We left, scared, shocked and beyond belief that this could be happening in 2019. As a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I was furious.
“I got to my car and my emotions changed quickly to sadness, I broke down hysterically and I was overcome with everything I know about the holocaust.”
Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dvir Abramovich, who has been campaigning for the outlawing of the swastika, told the Herald Sun: “Something frightening is happening in our city.”
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Dr Abramovich said Victorians should be alarmed by white-supremacist hate.
“Melbourne is not Nazi Germany, and allowing this sickening and brazen display by individuals who support Hitler and the murder of Jews has to stop.
“Imagine the terror a Holocaust survivor would have felt on that night. No one can feel safe when such threatening incidents are allowed to happen, and Kmart and all other stores must immediately implement policies that obligate security to refuse entry or remove individuals wearing the insignia of the Third Reich.”
He repeated his call for the Andrews Government to ban the public displays of Nazism.