Young Adolf’s Birthday Cake

It sounds like  a bad joke. Who would name their poor kid Adolf Hitler? Answer: the same people who’ve named their other children after Henrich Himmler and the “Aryan Nation.” Yes, for real.

Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah, have named their three young children JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, and Adolf Hitler Campbell. Even though they’ve gotten their birthday cakes from Wal-Mart for two years previous, they decided to expand their horizons. However, ShopRite refused to personalize a birthday cake for young Adolf Hitler.

The parents say that they aren’t white supremacists, they just think that races shouldn’t mix and wanted their children to have unique names. They also don’t get what the big deal is about naming their children after an ideology responsible for the deaths of millions during the 20th century. Despite having a multitude of swastikas in their home, they can’t seem to draw it correctly, nor do they consider it to be a symbol having any meaning:

There are swastikas on walls, on jackets, on the freezer and on a pillow. The family car had swastikas, Heath Campbell said, until New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families told him they could endanger the children.

The swastikas, Heath Campbell said, are symbols of peace and balance. He considers them art.

“It doesn’t mean hatred to me,” he said. Deborah Campbell said a swastika “doesn’t really have a meaning. It’s just a symbol.”

On Twitter, Orthodox Jewish hiphop musician Y-Love joked that his house “just doesn’t feel lived in without 4-500 meaningless symbols all over everything!”

My favorite part:

Heath Campbell said he doesn’t want to force his views on his children, in part because he had views forced on him. He said he also teaches them nonviolence.

Abusive guardians, Heath Campbell said, used Bible verses to teach him to distrust blacks. If he questioned the guardians, he said, he was hit. He acknowledged he couldn’t challenge the guardians’ views.

He said Adolf Hitler, Aryan Nation and Hinler would be able to make their own decisions about race.

Riiiight. Just like how you made your own decisions about race? It had nothing to do with your parents/guardians beating it into you?