The Anti-Defamation League strongly condemned the Pentagon’s purge of articles related to the Holocaust that were reportedly caught up in a massive elimination of diversity-related content from all its platforms.
At least half a dozen articles about the Holocaust have already been taken down from more than 1,000 Pentagon-hosted websites and labeled as “DEI” in their URL, CNN reported Wednesday.
Other articles on topics including Sept. 11, cancer awareness, sexual assault and suicide prevention are also included in the tens of thousands of selections either removed or flagged for removal by the Pentagon, according to a CNN analysis.
The removal of Holocaust-related content – including an article on Kitty Saks, a Holocaust survivor who remembers “the state-sponsored, systemic persecution and annihilation of European Jewry” — sent ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt urging the Trump administration to rectify the move.
“We are concerned by reports that the Department of Defense has removed Holocaust-related content, including survivor stories, under the label of ‘DEI,” Greenblatt told CNN.
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“Honoring the memory of the Holocaust and those who survived is not a matter of political ideology — it is a moral imperative and a vital component of education, remembrance, and the fight against antisemitism,” he said. “The history of the Holocaust, including the liberation of the camps, also reflects the bravery and sacrifice of Allied soldiers — a legacy that should be preserved, not erased.”
Greenblatt added: “We urge the DoD to reverse this decision and preserve these vital historical records.”
The purge order came as part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s directive to scrap diversity-related content from all its platforms. Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot told CNN in a statement Wednesday that the Defense Department was “pleased by the rapid compliance” at the Pentagon.
“In the rare cases that content is removed – either deliberately or by mistake – that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period,” he said.