Considering firm with Nazi ties for naming rights is wrong move

[UNHWildCats]

Marcus' mini rant against Naming rights reminded me of this story I saw this morning. I can't believe they are even considering selling the naming to them.

---------------------------

I was sitting in the end zone in the upper deck with my father when Giants Stadium (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Giants+Stadium) opened for Cowboys vs. Giants on Oct. 10, 1976. In the last 32 years, between Giants practices and Jets and Giants games, I've probably been there 750 times.

Not once did I look up at the name of the stadium on the big blue signs and cringe as I drove through the parking lot or feel uncomfortable walking through the doors and seeing Giants Stadium on the scoreboard or typing the name of the place into my computer.

The feeling of indifference will change for me, a member of the largest Jewish community in the country, if the new $1.6 billion state-of-the-art palace the Giants and Jets are constructing is called Allianz (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Allianz+SE) Stadium.

Allianz, the front-runner to secure the new stadium's naming rights, is an insurance and financial services company founded in Berlin (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Berlin) in 1890 that moved to Munich (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Munich) in 1949 and had ties to Nazi Germany (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Nazi+Party). Its CEO at the time, Kurt Schmitt (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Kurt+Schmitt), was Adolf Hitler (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Adolf+Hitler)'s economics minister. It was the insurer of the Auschwitz (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Auschwitz-Birkenau) death camp's facilities and personnel.

Even if Allianz has tried to make restitution over the years to the families of the Holocaust victims, why should a football stadium be a reminder of the painful events that led to the murder of six million Jews? With so many Holocaust survivors in this area and ancestors of survivors or people who lost their parents or grandparents in concentration camps, it just makes no sense.

"I am very upset," Holocaust survivor Earnest Michel (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Earnest+Michel) said yesterday. "I would find the connection of naming the stadium in the name of a German insurance company a very, very serious act and that we as survivors would take exception to."

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/2008/09/10/2008-09-10_considering_firm_with_nazi_ties_for_nami.html

[Cobblestone]

With so many Holocaust survivors in this area and ancestors of survivors or people who lost their parents or grandparents in concentration camps, it just makes no sense.


Which is why this won't happen. I don't think the Jets or Giants care about these folks but they DO care about attendance and PR, both of which could suffer if this foolish move is ever made.

[Grizalltheway]

Would they be just as offended if IBM were the sponsor? I'm not saying they shouldn't be offended by this, just wondering.

[DSUrocks07]

Would they be just as offended if IBM were the sponsor? I'm not saying they shouldn't be offended by this, just wondering.

xconfusedx

what does IBM have to do with this?

[Grizalltheway]

xconfusedx

what does IBM have to do with this?

http://www.amazon.com/IBM-Holocaust-Edwin-Black/dp/0751531995/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221191130&sr=1-2

[TheValleyRaider]

IBM, like pretty much every major international corporation in the 1930s and 1940s, did business with the German government

I can see why they'd be concerned over the PR fallout, but at the same time, Allianz in 2008 is not Allianz from the days of the Nazis xtwocentsx

[Grizalltheway]

IBM, like pretty much every major international corporation in the 1930s and 1940s, did business with the German government

I can see why they'd be concerned over the PR fallout, but at the same time, Allianz in 2008 is not Allianz from the days of the Nazis xtwocentsx

I have no problem with Jews, especially Holocaust survivors, being offended by the idea; perfectly understandable.

The book is a pretty fascinating read if you get the chance, TVR. IBM's CEO knew exactly what the punch cards were being used for. :(

[DSUrocks07]

http://www.amazon.com/IBM-Holocaust-Edwin-Black/dp/0751531995/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221191130&sr=1-2


IBM, like pretty much every major international corporation in the 1930s and 1940s, did business with the German government

I can see why they'd be concerned over the PR fallout, but at the same time, Allianz in 2008 is not Allianz from the days of the Nazis xtwocentsx

I stand corrected

I guess I need to xreadx before I xcoachx

xlolx

[citdog]

the ceo who served in the cabinet of the nazi hun bastards should be hung up by his neck until he is dead.....this company also REFUSED to pay the life insurance claims of Jews who were murdered in the MILLIONS by grizalltheway's heros.....

[93henfan]

What is the statute of limitations for a country that had an undesireable moment in its history? If it's more than 63 years, then let's continue to hold this against Germany. Of course we'll also have to bar any businesses that did business with Southerners in the Jim Crow south. If the statute is 150 years then we'll have to dissolve all businesses with ties to the attempted genocide of Native Americans or the forced enslavement of Africans.

See what I'm saying? At some point you have to nut up and move on with your life and stop boo hooing about mistakes (however terrible) made in the past.

[citdog]

What is the statute of limitations for a country that had an undesireable moment in its history? If its more than 63 years, then let's continue to hold this against Germany. Of course we'll also have to bar any businesses that did business with Southerners in the Jim Crow south. If the statute is 150 years then we'll have to dissolve all businesses with ties to the attempted genocide of Native Americans or the forced enslavement of Africans.

See what I'm saying? At some point you have to nut up and move on with your life and stop boo hooing about mistakes (however terrible) made in the past.

**** you 93......your attempt to link the keeping of servants to

THE INTENTIONAL MASSACRE OF 6 MILLION PEOPLE IS DISGUSTING AND SHOWS YOUR COMPLETE IGNORANCE OF THE SUBJECT

"10,000 YEARS WILL PASS AND WILL NOT WASH AWAY THE GUILT OF GERMANY AND ALL GERMANS"
HANZ FRANK, GOV. OF THE GOVERNMENT GENERAL AS HE WAS BEING HUNG BY BY HIS NECK AT KRAKOW IN 1946.

"BOO HOOING" YOU REALLY ARE A PIECE OF EXCREMENT

[93henfan]

Let's all commit suicide Citdog. Our houses are built over Native American slaughterings. Good thing nobody was keeping count of them. Historians have estimated that the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by about 100 million after the arrival of Europeans.

[Seahawks Fan]

Would they be just as offended if IBM were the sponsor? I'm not saying they shouldn't be offended by this, just wondering.

What are you talking about? What does IBM have to do with the Holocaust? xconfusedx xconfusedx

[Seahawks Fan]

Which is why this won't happen. I don't think the Jets or Giants care about these folks but they DO care about attendance and PR, both of which could suffer if this foolish move is ever made.


Oh my. The Giants are owned by the Tisch family. They don't care? I doubt that.

[citdog]

Let's all commit suicide Citdog. Our houses are built over Native American slaughterings. Good thing nobody was keeping count of them. Historians have estimated that the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by about 100 million after the arrival of Europeans.

you first..

godless heathen savages should have known their role!xnodx

[Seahawks Fan]

This is a bad idea. The Jets and Giants should take another offer. xnodx

[th0m]

The keyword here being "once".

[93henfan]

you first..

godless heathen savages should have known their role!xnodx

I sense some levity coming back, which I welcome.

Don't get me wrong Citdog, the Holocaust is the worst human tragedy in modern history (and I'm defining modern as 20th century to present).

I hope you don't think I'm trying to make any light of that horrible event or the fact that those responsible should be held responsible. If I found out that my neighbor worked at a Nazi death camp I would immediately dime him out to the authorities and pray for swift justice.

That being said, the guilt you mentioned in the quote from Hanz Frank is most certainly felt by Germans. I had two German foreign exchange students that attended high school with me back in the 80s. I was joking with one one day asking if he had any Nazi tendencies and he broke down crying. He said that Germans will never live it down and it's a terrible burden to bear.

I think you must honor the memory of the victims and survivors of the holocaust, but you also have to let bygones be bygones in relation to the descendants of the offenders.

[Go...gate]

I sense some levity coming back, which I welcome.

Don't get me wrong Citdog, the Holocaust is the worst human tragedy in modern history (and I'm defining modern as 20th century to present).

I hope you don't think I'm trying to make any light of that horrible event or the fact that those responsible should be held responsible. If I found out that my neighbor worked at a Nazi death camp I would immediately dime him out to the authorities and pray for swift justice.

That being said, the guilt you mentioned in the quote from Hanz Frank is most certainly felt by Germans. I had two German foreign exchange students that attended high school with me back in the 80s. I was joking with one one day asking if he had any Nazi tendencies and he broke down crying. He said that Germans will never live it down and it's a terrible burden to bear.

I think you must honor the memory of the victims and survivors of the holocaust, but you also have to let bygones be bygones in relation to the descendants of the offenders.

I know this could incite a riot, but why should they live it down? Extermination is pretty heinous stuff.

[citdog]

I know this could incite a riot, but why should they live it down? Extermination is pretty heinous stuff.


THEY SHOULDN'T.......THEY HAVE A GENETIC DEFECT THAT MAKES THEM FOLLOW HIM WHO SHOUTS THE LOUDEST....."THE GERMAN PEOPLE...SO ESTIMABLE IN THE INDIVIDUAL....SO WRETCHED IN THE TOTAL" GOTHE

[TheValleyRaider]

THEY SHOULDN'T.......THEY HAVE A GENETIC DEFECT THAT MAKES THEM FOLLOW HIM WHO SHOUTS THE LOUDEST....."THE GERMAN PEOPLE...SO ESTIMABLE IN THE INDIVIDUAL....SO WRETCHED IN THE TOTAL" GOTHE

What a second....


You read Goethe? xeyebrowx

[Cleets]

Mercedes Benz
George Bush's Family
Allianz

they all have Nazi history xnodx what should we do...?

Treat them all individually even though they committed the same crimes... hmmm... Who gets a free Ride / who pays for history xcoffeex

[Marcus Garvey]

I find the "moral indignation" by those protesting this to be rather boring, as such things tend to be.

This is such a bull***** excuse to protest a name, but whatever. Have at it New Yorkers. If you really believe that any individuals connected with management have any ties to the National Socialsit Party of Germany, thus making this a relevant argument, then that makes you as dumb as... as... as a Jets fan (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/20/breast-flashing-is-the-g_n_73508.html)!

(Sorry for the Huffington Post link, but that was the first one I found and I'm lazy. On the brightside, that website a gold mine for those in search of "Unintentional Comedy.")

[citdog]

What a second....


You read Goethe? xeyebrowx

I AM AN EDUCATED MAN......

[Grizalltheway]

Mercedes Benz
George Bush's Family
Allianz

they all have Nazi history xnodx what should we do...?

Treat them all individually even though they committed the same crimes... hmmm... Who gets a free Ride / who pays for history xcoffeex

1.The South
2. The Germans

[Reign of Terrier]

The difference between the Germans and southerners.
Germans to Jews- Work under horrible conditions and torture AND die
Southerners to slaves-work under horrible conditions and torture OR die

Both were still horriblexnonox xnonox

[93henfan]

THEY SHOULDN'T.......THEY HAVE A GENETIC DEFECT THAT MAKES THEM FOLLOW HIM WHO SHOUTS THE LOUDEST....."THE GERMAN PEOPLE...SO ESTIMABLE IN THE INDIVIDUAL....SO WRETCHED IN THE TOTAL" GOTHE

Sounds like some other groups too.

[Go...gate]

I AM AN EDUCATED MAN......

Never a doubt in my mind. :)

[TheValleyRaider]

Heard on the radio earlier this evening that the Giants and Jets have dropped Allianz from consideration for Stadium naming rights

[Cleets]

Heard on the radio earlier this evening that the Giants and Jets have dropped Allianz from consideration for Stadium naming rights

Gee guess why... xeyebrowx
Yet Mercedes Benz and George Bush Rock on... xlolx


Our Hypocrisy knows no boundary - You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Mercedes Benz in this country - yet they used them to haul Jews to the pit
and Bush is a Golden God on Fox news - yet his family (like their present day war profiteering) also profited on dead Jews...

smile it's the weekend.. and we love ice cream xnonono2x
(I like cake) we're idiots and pompous about it all the while (somebody wrap me in a flag) and shove a cross up my ass

[Grizalltheway]

Gee guess why... xeyebrowx
Yet Mercedes Benz and George Bush Rock on... xlolx


Our Hypocrisy knows no boundary - You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Mercedes Benz in this country - yet they used them to haul Jews to the pit
and Bush is a Golden God on Fox news - yet his family (like their present day war profiteering) also profited on dead Jews...

smile it's the weekend.. and we love ice cream xnonono2x
(I like cake) we're idiots and pompous about it all the while (somebody wrap me in a flag) and shove a cross up my ass

The world is a ****ed up place.