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In a training session Monday, officers in the Boston area studied lessons to be learned from the Holocaust and the role law enforcement played.
The training, created in partnership with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, examines how police were used to legitimize and enforce Nazi policies.
The program, called “What You Do Matters,” provides information about how Adolf Hitler rose to power and how his regime exploited people’s fears.
Todd Larson and Timothy Tomczak, both former law enforcement officers, led the training.
They explained how an arson attack on the parliamentary building in Berlin, the Reichstag, in 1933 prompted a decree that suspended various constitutional protections. Tomczak described it as being akin to suspending the 1st and 4th Amendments of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution, effectively taking the reins off of law enforcement and expanding the authority of the German Reich.
The leaders listed a number of laws that followed targeting Jewish people, including a law that revoked the citizenship of naturalized Jews and other groups of people and another that limited the number of Jewish students to prevent overcrowding.
“The Nazi party ran on a crime-free platform. They wanted to remove crime from society,” said Larson during his presentation.
“Almost everything done was lawful,” said Tomczak.
The “Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” exhibit at the Castle at Park Plaza tells firsthand stories of the people who lived, worked, died and survived Auschwitz, the biggest death factory of the Holocaust.
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Their presentation included images of a Berlin police officer on patrol with a member of the SS, an officer escorting a Nazi official collecting racial data and police officers directing groups of people who were being deported.
Whether they were directly involved in the activities, or standing alongside the perpetrators, the trainers suggested the presence of their uniform could have been perceived as adding legitimacy, describing it as a representation of restoration of public order. The discussion was interactive prompting local officers to share their reflections on the subject.
“It was very emotional to see the damage that was done back in the 30s and 40s, and it makes you think of law enforcement today, why we are in the position that we are in and what we’re doing to help others,” said Mike McCartney, a Suffolk University police officer. “It’s really gratifying to see everyone coming together, working together as a group to prevent something like what happened before in the future.”
“If it was driving prisoners to wherever, or standing guard, they still played a role, and obviously, it was through intimidation,” said McCartney. “As a supervisor, I’m going to question what’s being told to me, and I would expect my officers to question me if they don’t believe something is right.”
“I think it was really helpful to the officers to see that and see what failure to provide proper ethics and the results that can happen when they don’t do the right thing,” said Chief Jim Connolly of the Suffolk University Police Department.
Connolly partnered with the Holocaust Legacy Foundation to bring the training to Boston.
“As we say, history repeats itself, so we really need to examine the past in order to connect to the present to make sure that we have a better future,” said Jody Kipnis, co-founder, CEO and president of the Holocaust Legacy Foundation. “They were doing what they thought would be great for their country, and these were not monsters, these were very educated people that were doing these things. It’s really hard to think about what humans are capable of doing to other humans.”
She said she hopes to continue offering the training and expand to other fields, such as medical professionals, politicians and teachers.
This time, the people marched in resistance to the harsh treatment of immigrants by the Trump administration.
“We descend from Immigrants and Revolutionaries,” read a battle cry beamed onto the side of the brick meeting house Tuesday.
“The society that stops seeing the people at the grocery line or the people that ride the bus with us, as human beings with beating hearts, then it’s not far off before our society devolves into no society at all,” Gilberto Calderin, director of advocacy at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition said to the crowd of hundreds.
The protest was organized by activist groups Boston Indivisible and Mass 50501, and began at the Irish Famine Memorial Plaza, just steps from the meeting house.
The lively crowd held up signs, waved American flags, and chanted during the march along Milk Street and Congress Street to the harbor.
Janet England of Brighton held a sign that read, “Democracy Needs Courage.”
The protesters, she said are “true patriots because we want freedom and democracy.”
“Although protest is a long game, we can’t give up. If you think about women’s suffrage, gay rights, the civil rights movement, it took years, but we just can’t give up,” she said.
Gloria Krusemeyer, from Alrington, used a walker to join the march.
“I’m irritated that I haven’t done more, and I’m just lucky that I can walk fast enough to be doing this,” she said.
Rick Mueller, from Cambridge, was dressed as Uncle Sam and held a large sign that read, “Liberty and Justice For All.”
“We’re fighting for America, so I’m gonna be America,” he said of his costume.
He handed small American flags out to protesters who waved them enthusiastically.
Ice dumping duties was limited to volunteers and select people.
Among them was Sarah, a mother who brought her 4-year-old daughter, Fiona.
Sarah declined to share her last name for her daughter’s safety.
After throwing ice into the harbor, Fiona shyly said that she wanted to come to the protest to “help families stay together.”
Through tears, Sarah said her decision to bring along Fiona came from wanting to teach her daughter to care about people from all walks of life.
“Kindness and compassion are things we learn in kindergarten and she will be in kindergarten so it’s really important for her to be kind and compassionate,” Sarah said, kissing her daughter’s check.
Likewise, Sara Sievers, from Cambridge, brought her parents, sister, her nephews and niece to dump ice.
“I think this is one of the most brutal regimes we’ve had in this country, and I want my niece and nephew to remember that it’s important to protest, and that we in Boston are part of a proud tradition of dumping things into the harbor with which we disagree,” Sievers said.
The family wore costumes of historical figures including Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and King Charles.
As the protest came to a close, Martha Laposata, spokesperson for Boston Indivisible said she wanted protestors to walk away knowing their voices matter.
“We cannot stand down,” Laposata said. “When people rise up against an authoritarian government, if they stay consistent and they keep growing, ultimately an authoritarian government will stand down.”
Camille Bugayong can be reached at camille.bugayong@globe.com.
Crime
An MIT professor was shot and killed in Brookline on Monday night.
Brookline police responded a report of a man shot in his home on Gibbs Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning, the DA says.
Loureiro was the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and a professor of nuclear science and engineering and physics. Originally from Portugal, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs announced his death in a regulatory hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities on Tuesday, according to CNN.
“Sadly, I can confirm that Professor Nuno Loureiro, who died early this morning, was a current MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. Our deepest sympathies are with his family, students, colleagues, and all those who are grieving,” an MIT spokesperson wrote in a statement.
In January, Loureiro was honored as one of nearly 400 scientists and engineers with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from former president Joe Biden.
The investigation into the homicide remains ongoing. No further information was released.
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A man was hospitalized after being shot Monday night in Brookline, Massachusetts.
The shooting happened on Gibbs Street. There was a large police presence at the scene.
The victim was brought to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His condition was not known.
Police said the victim was shot three times and grazed by another round.
Authorities did not say if any arrests had been made.
No further information was immediately available.
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