Holland Township, NJ – In a living room decorated with war books, German combat knives and swastikas, a 2-year-old boy, blond and blue-eyed, played with a plastic dinner set.
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The boy, asked his name, put down a tiny plate and ran behind his father’s leg. He flashed a shy smile but wouldn’t answer. Heath Campbell, 35, the boy’s father, encouraged him.
“Say Adolf,” said Campbell, a Holocaust denier who has three children named for Nazism.
Again, the boy wouldn’t answer. It wasn’t the first time the name caused hesitation.
Adolf Hitler Campbell — it’s indeed the name on his birth certificate — turns 3 today, and the Campbell family believes the boy has been mistreated. A local supermarket refused to make a birthday cake with “Adolf Hitler” on it.
The ShopRite in Greenwich Township has also refused to make a cake bearing the name of Campbell’s daughter, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, who turns 2 in February.
Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, a girl named for Schutzstaffel head Heinrich Himmler, turns 1 in April.
“ShopRite can’t even make a cake for a 3-year-old,” said Deborah Campbell, 25, who is Heath’s wife of three years and the mother of the children. “That’s sad.”
A director for the Anti-Defamation League in Philadelphia applauded the supermarket’s decision. An Allentown psychologist said the names would cause problems for the children later in life.
A cake case
Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman, said the grocer tries to meet customer requests but rejects those deemed inappropriate. “We believe the request to inscribe a birthday wish to Adolf Hitler is inappropriate,” she said.
The grocer offered to make a cake with enough room for the Campbells to write their own inscription. But the Campbells refused, saying they would have a cake made at the Wal-Mart in Lower Nazareth Township. The Campbells say Wal-Mart made cakes for Adolf’s first two birthdays.
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said the store won’t put anything illegal or profane on a cake but thinks it’s important to respect the views of customers and employees.
“Our No. 1 priority in decorating cakes is to serve the customer to the best of our ability,” Anna Taylor, the spokeswoman, said from Bentonville, Ark.
If the Campbells have a legal case over the refusal, it would be that the family was denied service because of race, ethnicity or religion, said Shannon Powers, of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, a state agency that enforces anti-discrimination laws.
The Campbells, she said, would have to prove ShopRite didn’t make a reasonable attempt to provide service it provides others. She said the offer to make a cake with room for an inscription would probably count as a reasonable attempt.
“It sounds like they (the supermarket) don’t want to offend other patrons or do something offensive to their own sensibilities. If that’s the motivation, that’s totally different from discrimination,” Powers said.
‘They’re just names’
The Campbells have swastikas in each room of their home, the rented half of a one-story duplex just outside Milford, a borough in Hunterdon County. They say they aren’t racists but believe races shouldn’t mix.
The Campbells said they wanted their children to have unique names and didn’t expect the names to cause problems. Despite the cake refusal, the Campbells said they don’t expect the names to cause problems later, such as when the children start school.
“I just figured that they’re just names,” Deborah Campbell said. “They’re just kids. They’re not going to hurt anybody.”
Heath Campbell said some people like the names but others are shocked to hear them. “They say, ‘He (Hitler) killed all those people.’ I say, ‘You’re living in the wrong decade. That Hitler’s gone,'” he said.
“They’re just names, you know,” he said. “Yeah, they (Nazis) were bad people back then. But my kids are little. They’re not going to grow up like that.”
“Other kids get their cake. I get a hard time,” he said. “It’s not fair to my children.
“How can a name be offensive?” he asked.
‘Why not call the kid Peace?’
Robert M. Gordon, a clinical psychologist in Allentown, said the names would hurt the children.
“Certainly society is going to be hostile towards those kids, especially when they go to school,” Gordon said.
More than that, he said, the children would be harmed by their parents’ views.
“By the time they get to school, they will already have been damaged,” Gordon said. “Any parent that would impose such horrific names on their children is mentally ill, and they would be affecting their children from the day they were born. Only a crazy person would do that.”
The problems the children might encounter in school, he said, “would be icing on the cake.”
Barry Morrison, a director at the Philadelphia office of the Anti-Defamation League, which works to stop anti-Semitism and bigotry, said the organization had never heard of children named for Hitler, Himmler or Aryan nations.
He found the names offensive and commended ShopRite’s decision.
The Campbells, Morrison said, “might as well put a sign around their (the children’s) neck that says bigot, racist, hatemonger. What’s the difference? Why not call the kid Peace or Tranquility or Hope or Acceptance?
“It’s doing them (the children) a tremendous disservice, and it’s cruel that parents would place these names on children,” he said. “It’s a mark upon them. It sets them apart for ridicule, derision, attacks.
“The children at this age might not have an understanding of these names. But when they grow up, hopefully, they would want to distance themselves from them,” he said. “If they come to identify with the ideology of Hitler, Himmler and the Aryan nations, their parents are launching them on a life of hatred.”
Swastikas and choices
The Campbell home is kept neat aside from scattered toys and other evidence three children live there. It’s small, but it’s what the Campbells can afford.
Disabilities, the couple says, have left both out of work: Heath Campbell can’t landscape or pump gas because he has emphysema, and Deborah can’t waitress because she has a bad back. They live on Social Security payments.
In the foyer, Heath Campbell, who said he has German ancestry and a relative who fought for the SS, took off boots he said were worn by a Nazi solider named Daniel.
He laid them next to a skull with a swastika on its forehead, the first of dozens of swastikas seen by the Campbells’ rare guests.
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.”
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.
Kudos to Shop Rite
this is a sick story, the looney is mental and should be evaluated. a name is a chance to honor a loved or deceased relative. or somebody who contributed by act and virtue to the betterment of society.
thank fully they can change their names in probate court and hopefully they will cremate their parents just as hitler did.
Shoprite Thank You!!
Besides Shoprite’s decision which will amount to discrimination and the sad fact that the kids will be severly traumatized, doesn’t seem like anything should be done…is there any difference between a parents right to raise a child as a racist or any other viewpoint…I’m a BT and I’m raising my son frum…that’s indoctirination just the same (BH a good indoctrination)
guess what i would put in the cake???
Email ShopRite and applaud their decision:
[email protected]
(She’s ShopRite’s spokeswoman)
yeah sure the swastika is just a Tibetan charm symbol. and both parents on disability ? certainly members of the ‘Master’ race
“One-Story Duplex”?????
And why is the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission involved if this is in New Jersey?
now what’s the chances of these kids growing up normal? mark my words these kids will grow up to be serial killers! and by the way if they want a cake I’ll have no problem giving them a cake with a special ingrediant put in!
This is the best part in the this piece of news “Disabilities, the couple says, have left both out of work: Heath Campbell can’t landscape or pump gas because he has emphysema, and Deborah can’t waitress because she has a bad back. They live on Social Security payments. “
If it’s the child’s name, I think it is wrong of ShopRite to censor the cake in this situation.
However, the whole concept of naming a child ‘Adolph Hitler’ is pretty sad, although perhaps ‘Aryan Nation’ is a worse name.
lucky for them the USA has jews that contribute to society and pay for their disability and welfare for their 3 little angels. Let them choke on the cake!
Why dont they move to Germany and live on German welfare???
shop rite stocks went up today with 100 %
I think the parents should be brought up on cruelty charges. The amount of torment and mocking their kids will have to go through because of their idiot parents is cruelty in my book. It’s one thing when idiot “celebrities” give their kids stupid names like Apple and Sunday, but this is a whole other story. Realistically speaking, no one is going to want to hang out with this kid, he’s going to be embarassed to show his driver’s license or ID for anything… it’s torture.
As far as the family goes, they should not be receiving any public assistance at all… if they’ve got the cash to lay out for all that Nazi paraphenalia then I’m sure they can afford other things too.
Bottom line is the local Family Services offices should get the kids out of that nuthouse ASAP.
reply to #17 if they would request to write “kill the jews” on the cake that would indeed be different because that would be suggesting illigal activiti
weird nuts they are indeed. Real contributors to the world living on the public dole.Their idol would send them off to die as invalids.
Where is Child Protective Services? This is child abuse.
Mrs Campbeell is pregnant their next child is going to be named Yimach Shimoi
Their whole defense is that “it’s just a name” and “it’s not the same Adolf Hitler” and that there is no signifigance, then why did they name them that? What’s with the three names that according to them have no meaning?
And if they’re Holocaust deniers, then what exactly do these three names represent? What did Himler do according to them?
Absolute wackos. Liars, and a danger to their kids.
sick bastards… i hope they all die together with all the living nazis as well
The pathetic thing is that Germany would not allow them to name their kids those names!
Only here in the US where we sometimes have a bit too much freedom, including freedom to harm children in some ways would this happen.
I have been told that if they tried this in Germany the forms naming the baby would be returned to them for them to select a more appropriate name. Germany would consider these names abusive to the child!
If he really admires Hitler so much he should follow his lead and commit suicide.
I can think of 3 kids that’ll be changing their names when they turn 18. Poor kids, it’s not their fault at all that the parents are nutters.
If you want to give your kid a name that brings nasty comments, looks, etc., that is your problem and its your kid’s problem too. You named the kid that horrible name now you could suffer for it. You live by the decisions you make.
Think of it this way, there are some people who will no longer name their daughter Yenta due to the comments given to kids with that name.
naming children with sick crazy names should be considered child abuse.
poor innocent kids… 3, 2 and 1 …they don’t know now how much pain their parents will cause them in the future due to such rediculous names…
they will end up hating their parents…
naming a child is a huge responsibility.
I called ShopRite to express my appreciation for standing up the despicable nazi jerks.. They don’t sound too different than the Palestinians that train their young how to shoot rifles to kill people and grow up to be suicide bombers.. And the worst part is that our tax dollars are providing for the lowlife thankless scumbags. They should crawl back to their smelly rat hole!!
Shoprite did the right thing! May they enjoy more success!!
What would happen if a supermarket made a cake that said “Mohammad Sucks” ?
pro con artists now for the rest of theirlives they will be able to sue right and left
It’s a free country. These nuts have every right to admire the Nazis, and to name their kids after them. And Shoprite has every right not to do business with them. I have no problem with Shoprite “censoring” its cakes; it is not a state actor. I would do the same. I would have a problem with the state coming in and interfering with how these nuts raise their children; that is a very slippery path indeed. The kids are theirs to raise how they like, and sooner or later they’ll do something and end up in jail; it’s sad, but that’s how it is.
Why don’t America’s #1 candidates for sterilization cut to the chase and name their next kid Hateful Bigot Racist Pig Campbell? The Third. (After the reich). My guess is that the Campbell’s are inbreading to begin with, probably first cousins born in a trailer park where white trash isn’t just the Sunday Times. What more do you expect from people who have been married three times and still have the same in laws?
“Robert M. Gordon, a clinical psychologist in Allentown, said the names would hurt the children….The problems the children might encounter in school, he said, “would be icing on the cake.”
yeah, but the cake won’t say “happy birthday adolph hitler” on it!
this couple needs to see a BIG DOCTOR
#19 . So true. Maybe someone should remind them that these same monsters they idolize would put them away in the blink of an eye with their disabilities.
Go ShopRite!! Keep up the good work! Stand up for what’s right and moral in the world…there isnt much morality left unfortunately…
Sorry to play the stereotypes, but I’m glad the article mentiioned the people are one disability. “Heath Campbell can’t landscape or pump gas because he has emphysema, and Deborah can’t waitress because she has a bad back. They live on Social Security payments.”
Emphysema at 35? What a loser. The guy was probably a bitter chain smoker who blames the Jews. Bad back at 25? These people are the bottom of the barrel and they are harming their kids.
America is great. Our tax dollars are paying diability benefits to these haters.
Shop-Rite did a great job refusing to write the name.
how in the world did the state allow these names to go on the birth certificates in the first place?
very sick situatio for those poor children. bad enough they carry their parents genes but to also have those names?
they really should be taken by child welfare services.
she cant waitress…and she cant bake her own birthday cake for her child either????let me send her a recipe with some arsenic
Those innocent children should be taken away from their “disabled” parents! They are emotionally abusive! Mean, disgusting, insensitive, inapropiate, They coul not care less that their children will suffer b/c they want to prove to the world that there is nothing wrong with the holocaust… they would be considered in my book ‘insane’ and insane people should not be allowed to have kids!!!! They are hurting them so badly!!
Let me see: they can’t work and earn a living, yet here they are – one child a year (ages 1, 2 and 3) – and they’re on welfare. Now, we learn the names of these poor children?!! It’s like asking: what else can go wrong? (Maybe I shouldn’t give a kena horrah.)
You will notice that these idiots are making their political statement by slapping hateful names on small children who have no way of dissenting or defending themselves from their parents’ lunacy, and who will surely be the ones to suffer when they go to school and are taunted by other kids because of it. Maybe that’s this jerk and his wife’s plan all along — to give the kids hateful Nazi names, then when young “A.H.” Campbell and his sister, “A.N.” Campbell are picked on and abused, maybe constantly beaten up, they will turn into wild, bitter, warped psychos looking for revenge on everyone, just like these morons’ hero, Der Shtunkenfuhrer.
Otherwise, if the guy feels so strongly about it, why doesn’t he change his OWN name to “Adolf Hitler Campbell?” And his dopey wife can change her name to “Eva Braun Campbell” and they can live out their Aryan persecution fantasies. Hopefully, they would do the world a favor and kill themselves, like the original Eva and Dolf — but hopefully, the kids are not around to see it.
there is absolutely no doubt that these white-trash scumbags are mentally ill, and im not calling them “scumbags” because of their political views, (as much as i disagree) but because of the obvious abuse that will no doubt be inflicted upon these poor children. the funniest thing is the mom didnt realize people would be so upset about a name lol (wow, who knew NAZIS and ADOLF F____ING HITLER were touchy subjects?) the best part: the white-trash, unemployed welfare recipients are convinced they’re members of the “master race” hahaha riiiiiight
who would marry a man that wants to name there kids adolf hitler and aryon nation??? This is a messed up world!