--- description: The U.S. Holocaust museum condemned the rhetoric promoting Nazism at the white nationalist conference title: Holocaust Museum Slams Nazi Rhetoric at White Nationalist Conference image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt089409e7407f642a/6988af598e060165f54685a6/trump-white-nationalist-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Holocaust Museum 'Deeply Alarmed' by Nazi Rhetoric at White Nationalist Conference by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 21, 2016 11:11 PM CUT  Dozens of people protest attendees of the a white supremacist organization called the National Policy Institute at the Ronald Reagan International Center in Washington on Nov., 19, 2016. Dozens of people protest attendees of the a white supremacist organization called the National Policy Institute at the Ronald Reagan International Center in Washington on Nov., 19, 2016.Marvin Joseph—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 21, 2016 11:11 PM CUT The U.S. Holocaust Museum condemned the rhetoric promoting Nazism at the [white nationalist conference](http://time.com/4578034/white-nationalist-national-policy-institute-injured/ "undefined") hosted by the National Policy Institute at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center this weekend. On Saturday, prominent alt-right leader Richard Spencer spoke against Jewish people and quoted Nazi propaganda in German in [a speech](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/ "undefined") to the conference crowd. As he ended his address, audience held their arms out in a Nazi salute. They shouted, “Heil the people! Heil victory,” the New York _Times_ [reported](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/alt-right-salutes-donald-trump.html "undefined"). Spencer “implied the media was protecting Jewish interests and said, ‘One wonders if these people are people at all?'” the Holocaust Museum [said in a statement](https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/museum-condemns-white-nationalist-conference-rhetoric "undefined"), saying his rhetoric mirrored Adolf Hitler’s view “of Jews and that history is a racial struggle for survival.” “The Holocaust did not begin with killing; it began with words,” the statement said. “The Museum calls on all American citizens, our religious and civic leaders, and the leadership of all branches of the government to confront racist thinking and divisive hateful speech.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4579373/holocaust-museum-white-nationalist-conference/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4579373/holocaust-museum-white-nationalist-conference/"},"headline":"Holocaust Museum 'Deeply Alarmed' by Nazi Rhetoric at White Nationalist Conference","datePublished":"2016-11-21T23:11:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:57:09.940Z","description":"\"The Holocaust did not begin with killing; it began with words\"","url":"https://time.com/4579373/holocaust-museum-white-nationalist-conference/","keywords":["Washington D.C."],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt089409e7407f642a/6988af598e060165f54685a6/trump-white-nationalist-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt089409e7407f642a/6988af598e060165f54685a6/trump-white-nationalist-conference.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"White Nationalist Conference","caption":"White Nationalist Conference","creditText":"Marvin Joseph—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4579373/holocaust-museum-white-nationalist-conference/","name":"Holocaust Museum 'Deeply Alarmed' by Nazi Rhetoric at White Nationalist Conference"}}]}] ```