‘Mexican laws prohibit anti-Semitism. That’s why we denounce all forms of discrimination’
Jewish and anti-racist groups in Mexico sounded the alarm after a couple had a Nazi-themed wedding last week on April 29, the 77th wedding anniversary of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun.
In the wedding photos, the groom was dressed as a Nazi SS officer and the bride was seen in a Volkswagen Beetle painted in the colors of the Nazi flag and covered in swastikas.
The groom said the couple chose the Nazi theme because they worship Hitler.
“I understand that for many people, Hitler represents genocide, racism, and violence. People, on the other hand, make judgments without having all the facts,” he said.
“Hitler was a vegetarian who saved his country from starvation and returned to his people the lands lost in World War I. His friends and family adored him. We were led to believe that Hitler was a racist, but he came to greet Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics,” he continued.
The photos of the wedding – which took place in the central state of Tlaxcala – went viral on social media, prompting condemnation from local authorities and Jewish community leaders.
“Mexican laws prohibit anti-Semitism,” the National Council for the Prevention of Discrimination, a government group known as CONAPRED, tweeted.
“That’s why we denounce all forms of discrimination.”
Officials from the Latin America division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center also criticized the government for not moving more quickly to condemn the marriage, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
Ariel Gelblung, the group’s director, said the wedding was evidence that Mexico should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and “incorporate it into its legislation to prevent such hateful behavior.”
