Students found posters containing suggestive Nazi language across three MTSU buildings last week. The posters depicted an image from the bombing of Dresden with the words “Und doch, Wir vergessen nicht,” translating to “And yet, we do not forget.” The posters have not been attributed to any person or organization.
Ashley Valanzola, a Holocaust studies professor at MTSU, showed the poster to her class after her graduate student, Thomas Hudson, told her about it. A student in Valanzola’s class looked up “Wir vergessen nicht” to find a song banned in Germany by a known Neo-Nazi singer, Valanzola said.
The image of the bombing of Dresden and the words atop are part of a historical position that places Germany as the victim in World War II and the Holocaust, not as the perpetrator, Valanzola said.
“It’s very borderline in terms of Holocaust denial and relativism,” Valanzola said. “You know, ‘how could you say [they] did these things…that Germany was the one blamed for the Holocaust and all the other accompanying atrocities.’”
The flyers were posted on the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden, which Valanzola believes has much to do with it.
“Do we just consider this like a one-off, you know, cowardly act on campus?” Valanzola said. “Should we be paranoid?”
MTSU will host a Holocaust Studies Conference in March, and Valanzola has discussed further security measures for the event following the posters.
“We might just feel like we’re being paranoid, but the one time that we dismiss it is paranoia and don’t take action is the one, right, that’ll ultimately end up much worse,” Valanzola said.
Valanzola said if students see any other posters they should report it to the local office of the building to gauge how widespread the postings were.
“I will say it made me really, really angry to see that on campus yesterday where you take for granted that we have these safe spaces, you know, to teach the kind of classes that I teach,” Valanzola said. “And it’s a message…that undermines that environment we worked so hard to create here. This welcoming, diverse, awesome community.”
When Hudson saw the poster, he recognized something was “off” but failed to place why. He told Victoria Richardson, a Department of History staff member in Peck Hall and graduate student, about the poster, and she told Hudson that she did not authorize its placement.
“I talked to Victoria, who was the one who took it down,” Hudson said. “She said she thought she saw somebody put it…on the board. But like, really quickly and she didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
Richardson later informed other department heads, including the World Languages department, where another poster was found, and Valanzola informed College of Liberal Arts Dean Leah Lyons. MTSU police were not informed.
“You have to have permission to post in departments, so…all the departments, automatically ripped them down because they weren’t authorized,” Valanzola said.
Other students found posters in the Student Union and by the Keathley University Center. Those who saw them removed them and, in the Student Union, reported it to the front desk.
The MTSU Young Democratic Socialists of America posted on Instagram on Sunday about the matter, warning of “Nazi propaganda on MTSU’s campus.” MT Lambda, MTSU’s LGBTQ+ association, told members in its Discord server on Feb. 13, attaching images of the poster.
To contact the editor, email [email protected].
Follow Sidelines on Facebook at Facebook.com/MTSUSidelines, on X @mtsusidelines and Instagram @mtsusidelines. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
