Nazi-Naming Parents Should Lose Custody of Children, Court Says
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
It looks like baby Hitler won’t be coming home anytime soon. And when we say Hitler, we of course mean the 4-year-old boy — full name, Adolf Hitler Campbell — whose nazi-obsessed parents branded him with the unfortunate handle.
A state appeals court in New Jersey has ruled that Heath and Deborah Campbell will not be reunited with their three children (the other two are named, get this, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell), all of whom have been in foster care since early 2009, after a media storm erupted over the choice of moniker.
The parents first attracted attention when they asked a Shop Rite supermarket to decorate a birthday cake with little Adolf’s name on it. The store refused. The media got involved, and the rest is history. Sort of. A Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania ended up decorating the cake.
But apparently all the hoopla raised some eyebrows among the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, who visited the family and removed the children. Reports of domestic violence and the children being strapped to chairs for excessive amounts of time didn’t help their cause.
CBS news reported that court documents mentioned that Heath, 37, has never been able to hold down a job because of medical and psychological problems. Not entirely surprising, Deborah, who is 10 years her husband’s junior, also has a history of mental health issues.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
