Off message

COEUR d’ALENE — Christie Hoium has called Coeur d’Alene home for five years and likes it. But a reader board message on a busy intersection in the community Monday had her upset.

“To Conquer A Nation First Disarm Its Citizens.”

It wasn’t so much those eight words that made her angry, but rather, the name under them: Adolf Hitler.

“There’s no reason to put it up there,” Hoium said. “Regardless of your politics, there’s no reason to do that.”

The quote and use of Hitler’s name has turned into a hot topic on social media and some called Breaking Bread Artisan Bistro at Fourth and Best to voice their concerns.

Hoium was one of them.

“I understand what she was trying to say, but they could have picked anyone else other than Hitler,” she said Tuesday in a phone interview with The Press. “There are very few people in the world worse than Hitler.”

Heather Young, one of the owners of Breaking Bread, said they viewed the message that went up Monday as a way to encourage thought and discussion about the Second Amendment, nothing more.

“That’s all we truly meant by the quote,” Young said.

Young said she understands why some were upset by the reference to Adolf Hitler and said Breaking Bread did not mean to cause any grief or offend anyone.

“I see their point,” she said.

Young removed the name Adolf Hitler from the reader board Monday and Tuesday the rest of the message was also removed. A new one went up Tuesday: “If you want the present to be different from the past study the past.”

The reader board outside Breaking Bread, which used to be home of Davis Donuts, has long delivered quips meant to give people pause to reflect on their meaning and perhaps provoke likely discussions and even laughter.

“Some read a statement and see it one way, and one might see it completely differently,” Young said.

People were sounding off on social media about the quote. Some were mad, while others took a measured approach.

“The board is always controversial but this takes the cake. We are now at the point where businesses feel comfortable quoting Hitler."

Another posted this comment:

“If they are against Hitler, I don’t think this is something that is coming across as becoming. I get pastries there. I am going to ask them what they mean by they’re board and I will make a decision."

Another wrote: “I wonder if they’re referring to the fact that they want a gun law? That’s only thing I can come up with, I’m gonna ask.”

One woman who called The Press said she thought the comment credited to Hitler was a myth and even if accurate, it was inappropriate.

"I don't think quoting Hitler has a place in our society," said the woman, who declined to give her name.

According to snopes.com, Hitler never actually said the quote cited on the reader board.

It said that comment "is frequently cited in discussions about gun control in the United States, but as far as we know no one has ever turned up a source documenting that Hitler literally proclaimed that "to conquer a nation, you must first disarm its citizens" (or something very similar).”

Snopes.com does state that the book “Hitler's Table Talk, 1941-1944: Secret Conversations” records Hitler as having said the following sometime between February and September 1942:

“The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjugated races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjugated races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.”

Hoium said regardless of what Hitler might have actually said, the use of a message attributed to him to promote thought or discussion is unacceptable.

While she appreciated the message's removal, she was still upset it was put up at all.

She said she is being vocal on this issue because she wants people to pay attention to what businesses stand for.

“I’m 100% for and believe in freedom of speech,” Hoium said. “But that doesn’t equate to freedom of consequences.”