[Column] A stigmatic stigmatization

Lee Sang-eon

The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp in the southern Polish city of Oswiecim is a disturbing yet must-go place to visit when you go to Poland. The camp is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Warsaw and about an hour’s drive from Krakow, the second largest city in Poland. Since there is not much to see around the area, you must have the courage to make the journey while in Poland or Europe. I arrived at an airport in Krakow 10 years ago without knowing the site was located so remotely. The cheerless ambience during the road trip built up the solemnity before I set foot in the prison camp site.

The reality of Auschwitz isn’t especially surprising. The horrifying scenes were the same as captured in numerous documentary films and photos — the railroad leading up to the prison camp with the sign on the main entrance gate reading “Arbeit Mach Frei” (Work sets you free), the electric wires, gas chambers and crematoria. At one corner, there was a large stack of shoes worn by those who died in the gas chambers or killed through other brutalities. The author of “The Diary of Anne Frank” survived Auschwitz, but died in another camp.

The Polish government has preserved the site and many people visit it to remind themselves how humans can become monsters. The appalling site of the Holocaust that killed more than 1 million Jews exists as a gruesome cautionary tale for mankind.

The Nazis had Jews wear yellow star badges on their coats. The badge was to segregate the Jewish from everyone else and deport them to ghettos and concentration camps. Their identification card was inscribed with the letter “J,” or the word “Jude.” The Yellow Star of David was painted on the doors and windows of the stores and houses where Jews lived. They were stigmatized to make a clear distinction between friends and foes. Nearly 100 Jews died from stone throwing and burning of Jewish dwellings.

The Democratic Party (DP) in Korea has drawn up a list of 16 prosecutors involved in investigations related to its chief Lee Jae-myung. The names of 10 prosecutors also had their photos. (One had to be removed because it was a picture of another person). The 10 were labeled as members of the “division” of President Yoon Suk-yeol. The party spokesman claimed the board was made to remember those prosecutors who went after its chief and leave their identities in a lasting record. The move was made by the party, not by a group of outside supporters.

Since the prosecution is not a secret organization, who investigates which case is not hard to find out. But it is a different matter for a political party in a free democracy to display the names of 16 prosecutors, with 10 of them being displayed with mugshots as well. The act is monstrous. Some of the prosecutors are investigating allegations about Lee’s wife having used a corporate credit card for personal spending or his son’s gambling. Will the prosecutors have to fold their investigations now due to the pressure? If Lee really feels injustice in the investigation, he could explain why to the public.

The stigma about being President Yoon’s lineage is also horrific. They once worked under Yoon when he was a senior prosecutor or prosecutor general. Assuming that they blindly follow his orders is childish. Such a blind allegiance can hardly be found in the top law enforcement agency today.

Politicians who strongly defended Lee were rewarded with generous donations from DP followers. They may think they have a better chance to get nominated in the next parliamentary elections after stigmatizing prosecutors as the Pharisees. They have now threatened to release the names of 150 prosecutors who are involved in investigations related to the previous Moon Jae-in administration. “Lord, forgive us for so much cruelty,” Pope Francis wrote in Spanish when he visited Auschwitz in 2016.