Florida Woman Says Holocaust-Themed Yard Display Is Meant To Spite HOA

2018-11-01

A Florida woman said she’s getting death threats because of the Holocaust-themed display she put up in her yard.

Susan Lamerton, a realtor in New Port Richey, put up a display earlier this week featuring skeletons with concentration camp ID numbers on their arms and a Star of David on their chests.

The discomfiting display also features a sign reading “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which means “Work sets you free” in German. It’s a slogan that was on display at the entrance of Nazi concentration camps like Auschwitz.

Lamerton’s perturbed neighbors say the display is especially scary coming so soon after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting on Saturday.

“It sickens me that we can have this, you know, with what happened in Pittsburgh,” neighbor Bonnie Katz told local station WFLA TV.

Bonnie’s husband, Mitchell Katz, said the decorations send the message that Lamerton “hates Jews and we should die.”

Lamerton, who told HuffPost she is Jewish, said the display is not for Halloween but is meant as a political protest against her local homeowner association.

Lamerton accuses the HOA of harassing her because she put a sign with a Star of David in her yard, which she said is allowed by the rules. HuffPost wasn’t able to reach the HOA for comment.

Lamerton said she put up the display last week. She didn’t seem concerned about the optics after Pittsburgh and claimed to be unaware of the shooting because she works too much to keep track of the news.

She said she will keep the display up as long as she feels like, thanks to her First Amendment right to free speech.

• 2018-11-01
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