Worthington man removes Nazi images from Beaver billboard and remains defiant

 

Last weekend, John Plasek removed a swastika slide from a digital billboard he owns at the corner of Highway 422 and Bonnybrook Road in Summit Township. The swastika was placed next to the words “The FBI IS CORRUPTE AND DANGEROUS TO THE GESTAPO.”

A Worthington businessman said he heard from a friend that a local Holocaust survivor upset the images.

“My goal was not to offend anyone or create grief and hardship for people or bad memories,” Plasek said. “So what I did was – out of respect for her – I deleted it.”

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Placek’s decision to remove the swastika was only about this particular billboard at this particular time, he told Chronicles. When asked if he was ready to no longer use Nazi images on his billboards, Plasek replied, “I don’t say that.”

The billboard owner said he would do whatever was necessary to spread “the word of God.” If I need to get people’s attention, I will. I do this not with malice or meanness. My goal is for God to return to our country, God to return to our schools with the Pledge of Allegiance, and God to return to American lives because God is in control, not the government.”

Plasek added that the swastika has been used for thousands of years in different cultures as a sign of goodness and that it was taken over by the Nazis.

Despite his claims that the swastika could be interpreted as something other than a hate symbol, Plasek said that he believed there was an equivalence between the Gestapo and the FBI. To illustrate his point, Plasek pointed to the arrest of a Philadelphia man for alleged violations of the Free Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

“When you arrest a man who is a clergyman and he is standing in front of an abortion clinic and the FBI arrests him for being anti-abortion — not in front of the clinic, but in his home where his seven children are watching the FBI. put handcuffs on the father. This is not true. This is the Gestapo. That is what I am trying to illustrate,” he said.

Plasek went on to say that it is necessary to “straighten up” America by turning to the LGBTQ+ community.

“Gays, bisexuals, transgenders, homosexuals… My God tells me this is forbidden and they are the Antichrist. I’m going to go after them and it won’t be popular,” he said.

Plasek sees similarities between the Gestapo and the FBI jailing people, pointing to those who were arrested on January 6, 2021, who he claims are still being held without charge.

“Yes, I think there is some parallel between the Gestapo and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there is no doubt about that,” he said. In August, Plasek faced criticism for similar messages on billboards he owns outside his Worthington businesses.

He told the Chronicle at the time that he didn’t mean to offend anyone, but he thought the raid on Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago was comparable to the Nazis killing over 6 million Jews and stealing their property.

“In my opinion, they are equivalent,” he said. I know you don’t want to hear this. What happened to the Jewish people was a crime. You are talking to an old army colonel. I served 22 years defending the Constitution of the United States of America. I am for Israel and all that. I’m not against Jews, but I was trying to say that you can’t just go and do this to people.”

In 2019, following the acquittal of former East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld of the fatal murder of Antwon Rose II, Plasek showed photographs of Rosfeld and Rose with the message: “The legal system is working, justice has been done, deal with it.” Another sign featured the billboard owner’s face with the message, “I’m white and I’m proud of it.”

The owner of a gas station and a pool company, Plasek lost his Sunoco affiliation after the Antwon Rose controversy.

Lauren Bairnsfather, executive director of the Pittsburgh Holocaust Center, said it was important that Plasek understand that the swastika is a symbol of hate and anti-Semitism.

“The Nazis persecuted many different minority groups,” she said. “It’s not a symbol you use to make a political point.” Bairnsfather said Plasek’s billboards are a testament to why what the Holocaust Center does is so important.

“To make sure there is a deeper understanding of what these symbols mean and why it is dangerous to use them to prove a political point. You are remembering the genocide,” she said.

Plasek’s messages, she says, are just one way to trivialize the Holocaust and prove that there is still much to be done.

For his part, Plasek plans to promote his controversial billboards, but believes they could lead to the FBI targeting him soon.

“Look, they will hit me next,” he said. “I mean they’ll handcuff me and drag me to jail because I have to speak my own mind.” PAO

David Rullo can be contacted at [email protected].

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