I need to say this plainly, because it matters. The words Nazi, Gestapo, and Holocaust are not political slogans. They are not metaphors. They are not interchangeable with “things I strongly disagree with.” They refer to a specific time in history — World War II — and to real, documented crimes committed against real people. My family lived this history. My mother never recovered from “the war.” Neither did her children. And neither have our children. Trauma does not end when a war does. It is carried forward — in memory, in silence, and in pain. My family is Sinti. My grandparents and relatives were persecuted by the Nazi regime. Members of my family were taken by the Gestapo, beaten, tortured, imprisoned in death camps, and murdered. My grandfather survived, but survival did not mean peace. Years later, he would still hold my hand with trembling fingers and tears in his eyes and tell me how lucky we were to be born in America. That is what these words mean to me. So when people casually invoke Nazis, the Gestapo, or the Holocaust to score political points, it is not passionate advocacy — it is profound disrespect. It uses the suffering of murdered families as rhetorical fuel. It flattens genocide into a talking point. It erases history rather than honoring it. If there are abuses of power, they should be confronted with facts, evidence, law, and moral seriousness. That work does not require — and should never rely on — false historical analogies that trivialize mass murder. My family’s tragedy is not a tool for anyone’s political agenda. History deserves accuracy. Victims deserve respect. And some words carry a weight that should never be used lightly — if at all — outside the context where they belong.