Keep Magneto Jewish

            Recently, an article was written by a man named Eli Keel over at Salon.com. In it, he makes an argument that Magneto should be rebooted as black, and as a former fighter of the Civil Rights movement. For those of you who are unaware, Magneto is a survivor of the Holocaust. While this is not a widely known fact, it is a big part of how Magneto came to be the villain that we all know today. He is one of the few Jewish characters in the Marvel universe, and easily the most well known. To make him anything else could be considered Anti-Semitic. The original article can be found here.

            In order to truly understand what Magneto does, and why he does it, you need to take a look at his history, and what he personally has gone through. A history that nobody should ever have to go through.

            As the survivor of the Holocaust, Magneto saw his family and friends killed before his eyes, just because they were Jews. After going through that once, why would anyone ever want to experience that again? In the Marvel universe, mutants are viewed as a pariah, for no other reason than they are different. Some view them as dangerous, but they are against even the peaceful ones. As a mutant, Magneto sees history repeating itself. He refuses to let it happen again, and attempts to fight back against the people who want to see Mutants everywhere imprisoned, or killed. At one point, he even finds an island, and makes it a safe haven for mutants everywhere. This island called Genosha, can be compared to Israel, which was a place for Jews to go after the Holocaust, and even to this day. The major difference however, is that while Israel is open to all people, Genosha is for mutants only. He just wants his people to be safe, and wants to protect them in ways that he could not protect his friends and family in the Holocaust.

            Keel brings up how he would love to see Magneto deal with the issue of the segregation that Africans Americans went through. In his article, Keel writes, 

“X-Men began as a metaphor for segregation. In 1963, America couldn’t openly discuss race in comic form, so the conflict was encoded. “Negroes” became “mutants.””  

            Before the segregation of the African Americans came to light, the segregation, and genocide of the Jews was a huge issue. Over 6 million Jews were viciously murdered in the Holocaust. Killed is not even a proper word to describe it. In Magneto’s eyes, Mutant means Jew, and he is once again facing the atrocities that he went through when he was young. The Nazis viewed Jews as the scum of the earth, even taking away their names, and referring to them by the numbers branded on their arms. I got chills when in X-Men: The Last Stand, Magneto is asked where his mutant mark is. He responds with "I have been marked once, my dear, and let me assure you, no needle shall ever touch my skin again" as he pulls back his sleeve, revealing a string of numbers from a Nazi concentration camp. Or in X-Men" First Class when he says "I've been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again." To take away his origins as a Holocaust survivor would change his whole being, and it is a pointless change as well. There would be no benefits to making this change, and I am very glad that the original article was just one man's opinion, and not the opinion of a Marvel executive.

            African Americans were not the only people to be segregated. During world war 2, the Nazis round up the Jews, took away their citizenship and rights, and threw them into labor camps, with the intention of killing them. While the Civil Rights movement is mentioned in comics from time to time by various characters, and the writers making their stories, the Holocaust doesn't get an equal amount, or even half the attention that the Civil Rights movement does. During the Civil Rights movement, African Americans in the U.S were still considered citizens of the U.S.A, and the government did not outright try to eliminate them from existence. Nazi Germany took the citizenship from every Jew in it’s borders. Nazis stormed into the houses of Jews, took whatever they want, and in some instances killed the Jews for no other reason than that they were Jewish. This fact, and the story needs to be told over and over, to make sure that nothing like it will ever happen again.

            Keel must understand that this article would receive some kind of criticism. He addresses it by saying:

“Erasing Jews and the Holocaust from Marvel would be a slap in the face to its founders, many of whom were Jewish. The answer is to make the many other Marvel Jewish characters interact with and respect their heritage and culture more openly. A-list characters like Kitty Pride, Iceman, and the Thing are all Jewish, but it rarely gets mentioned outside of special Christmas issues.”

            I personally would love to have Jewish characters address their Jewish heritage more often, but Keel still obviously does not get it. While he would have them take away one of many Jewish characters, and make him one of many African American characters, he is taking away the ONLY Holocaust survivor in the comics. There are many African American heroes, and it is easier for them to stand out than the Jewish ones. The title of Captain America was recently passed onto Sam Wilson, who is an African American superhero. There is even a Black Superhero King in Black Panther. You know their race right off the back. You don’t always realize that Kitty Pride, or The Thing, are Jewish, just by looking at them. To take away the only character who makes his Jewish heritage a big part of what makes him memorable, would be an atrocity. His so called "answer" to taking Magneto's Jewish heritage away, is not really an answer at all.

            Nobody denies that the Civil Rights movement happened. If anyone would, then African American communities, and Civil Rights groups everywhere would destroy that person.  The same can’t be said for the Holocaust. There are people around the world who believe that the Holocaust never happened, and there are even academic papers on the subject of Holocaust denial. To take away the only major comic book character with a connection to the Holocaust is downright Anti-Semitic. People need to be reminded of the atrocities that the Jews went through now more than ever, when Anti-Semitism is once again on the rise. Instead of making Magneto African American, they should keep him a Holocaust survivor, and bring his experiences to the forefront.  In an age where Holocaust survivors are dying of old age, lets not get rid of another one by taking away Magneto’s history.