Ohio State marching band’s Nazi song draws Jewish ire

Jerusalem Pos ^ | 08/02/2015 | By SAM SOKOL

[bob_denard]

Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued scathing condemnations on Sunday, after the Wall Street Journal published selections from the book

Jewish organizations are livid this weekend, following reports that members of Ohio State University’s marching band published a satirical songbook containing lyrics making fun of Jews being murdered in concentration camps.

Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued scathing condemnations on Sunday, after the Wall Street Journal published selections from the book.

“The Ohio State University marching band’s parody songbook, which reportedly contains misogynistic and anti-LGBT lyrics and a song mocking Holocaust victims, is outrageous and deeply offensive. Such lyrics not only demean entire groups of people, but also trivialize the horror that victims and their families have experienced,” ADL Ohio Regional Director Anita Gray said in a statement.

[dfwgator]

[Larry Lucido]

“Springtime for Hitler”?

[miele man]

Wasn’t this “songbook” made public a year or two ago? I recall reading some of the lyrics on these so called songs and they were disgusting and worse although I don’t recall seeing any Jewish references at the time. I presume whomever published the book on the net did not include the anti-Jewish comments. Ohio State’s band members and leaders need to be disciplined.

[rockrr]

According to the Journal, one song, titled Goodbye Kramer and set to the tune of the song Don’t Stop Believing, contained lyrics such as “small town Jew…who took the cattle train to you know where,” “[h]ead to the furnace room, ‘[b]out to meet your fiery doom,” and “[o]h the baking never ends, [i]t goes on and on and on and on.”

Yea, I'd say pretty disgusting. Not fit for public consumption and whomever allowed this to be performed needs to find a different profession.

[VitacoreVision]

What are the full lyrics to “Goodbye Kramer”? Where can I find them?

[rockrr]

I don’t know - I only posted what they included in the article.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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[trisham]

Disgusting.

[PAR35]

Should be OK as long as they don’t play Dixie. Remember, “Only Black lives matter”.

[buckalfa]

"Disgusting.

More so as a TOSU alumni. Both the football program and band have evolved outside of institutional control over the years. Yes, it is only a few bad apples, but tradition and cash flow keep the University from doing what needs done to wrest control back to the board and taxpayers. Shut them down for a year or two to purge the bad actors and start over.

[justiceseeker93]

It's the Band Director, who is in all probability a distinguished professor of music, who is most to blame for letting this stuff go on - if he knew about it. My guess is that he did.

Also, considering its large size, your would think there might be a couple of Jewish kids in the band who would be teed off.

[miele man]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the article I read a year or more ago about this (IIRC) laid responsibility at the feet of the band director and the student drum major, and if I recall rightly, some of the section leaders. The article said there was quite a bit of coercion and “go along to get along” in the workings of the band plus possible loss of scholarships in order to force or enforce students to accept these abominable songs and lyrics. I suspect a google search might locate the relevant articles.

[Peter Libra]

Just to mention the memorable marching band song, of I believe Ohio State.

Hang on Sloopy, hang on.

Liked the McCoys version of this on u-tube. Said to be a tribute to the much loved Dorothy Sloop, musician and special education teacher.

[onedoug]

DIXIE!

[Koracan]

German Americans.... making them the largest ancestry group in the United States, ahead of Irish , African , English , Mexican ,Italian

Communities with high percentages of people of German ancestry:
1.Monterey, Ohio 83.6%
2.Granville, Ohio 79.6%
3.St. Henry, Ohio 78.5%
4.Germantown Township, Illinois 77.6%
5.Jackson, Indiana 77.3%
6.Washington, Ohio 77.2%
7.St. Rose, Illinois 77.1%
8.Butler, Ohio 76.4%
9.Marion, Ohio 76.3%
10.Jennings, Ohio and Germantown, Illinois (village) 75.6%

German Americans by state::
1.North Dakota 46.8
2.South Dakota 44.5
3.Wisconsin 43.8
4.Nebraska 42.7
5.Minnesota 38.4
6.Iowa 35.7
7.Montana 27.0
8.Ohio 26.5
9.Wyoming 25.9

There can be 2 reasons for this:
They are making a point of their proud german ancestry which came mainly before the Nazi Era (1930/40's) and don't know what they are doing
or the Wiesenthal Centers constant holocaust reminder, results 70 years later, as a "back lash".


Forever connected

[justiceseeker93]

They are making a point of their proud German ancestry which came mainly before the Nazi Era (1930/40's) and don't know what they are doing...

From this Jewish American prospective, I don't think that German Americans today in general have any more tendency toward anti-Semitism than other ethnic or racial groups in the American population, and definitely have less of such a tendency than blacks, newly arrived Hispanics, and Arabs. For these kids in the Ohio State band, it's probably more historical ignorance than anything else.

Yes, of course, Ohio has been known to have large German-American communities for over a century (e.g., Cincinnati was once called "the American Rhineland" and Dayton had a heavy German-American population during the time of the Wright Brothers), but with all the assimilation that has occurred over the generations, it's unlikely that German ancestry is much of an explanation for what's going on now.

[Toespi]

A little back story........

Dr. Michael Drake, is the first African American President of OSU. He came from UC Irvine, graduated from UC San Francisco and Stanford.
There are several very wealthy Jewish families in Columbus, the Lazarus family and Schottenstein family, both of which have been very generous to OSU for decades and generation not to mention the Columbus community in general. Several of the women of these families had standing tennis dates and used the courts at OSU for many, many years.

Michale Drakes wife, Brenda, upon learning, this made it a mission to get this stopped and not allow these women to play there any longer. From what I understand, this was a specific and direct assault and “some” say it was because of anti-semitism.

[justiceseeker93]

There are several very wealthy Jewish families in Columbus, the Lazarus family and Schottenstein family, both of which have been very generous to OSU for decades and generation not to mention the Columbus community in general. Several of the women of these families had standing tennis dates and used the courts at OSU for many, many years.

Michale Drakes wife, Brenda, upon learning, this made it a mission to get this stopped and not allow these women to play there any longer. From what I understand, this was a specific and direct assault and “some” say it was because of anti-semitism.

Seems like anti-Semitism to me. If you donate a certain amount to the school to get the facilities built, you should be entitled to use the facilities, when available, regardless of your race, religion, or ethnicity. It's just common decency.

[driftless2]

So they couldn’t find one making fun of the GIs on the Bataan Death March? That would probably be next. Who are the incredibly obtuse people in charge who allowed something like that to happen?