The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery requested Tuesday that smartphone users refrain from “catching” Pokemon when they visit.
Like many other landmarks, the museum and the military cemetery are featured in the popular new “Pokemon Go” game. Players can stumble upon Pokemon while wandering their grounds.
The museum is a Pokestop — a place where players can get free in-game items— and online users say the cemetery also contains Pokestops.
Museum officials are trying to have it removed from the game, Communications Director Andrew Hollinger said in a statement. He said playing the game inside a memorial to victims of Nazism is “extremely inappropriate.”
At Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, spokesman Stephen Smith said the move was pre-emptive rather than to address a problem they’re already seeing.
“Playing games such as ‘Pokemon Go’ on these hallowed grounds would not be deemed appropriate,” cemetery officials said in a statement.
He said the cemetery’s layout makes it difficult to know whether an individual visitor is playing the game on his phone or using the cemetery’s own app to navigate landmarks in a respectful manner.
Game developers Niantic Labs did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s question of whether it could stop Pokemon from popping up inside the museum.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I could not agree more!
Is nothing sacred anymore? Next BLM & others of their ilk will be protesting the white crosses at Arlington National Cemetery.
Pokemon needs to keep its game in public areas such as parks. It is inappropriate to have Pokemon hiding in any cemetery or on private property.
I view it as sacred also, just as all the churches it points out but my daughter, who won’t put it down, says it causes people to notice the churches.
So I’m hoping that the children/people using it will have a question to learn more about what the holocaust memorial is all about. The point of the memorial is that WE NEVER FORGET!! The victims would be horrified if we made it a shrine. We remember those who gave their lives for their Religious and Political Freedom.
We also remember how easy it was for evil to rise to power when we allow our government or a person to be the supreme leader who answers to NO LAW and operate with no restraint.
Sad state of affairs when catching Pokémon is all the rage. Abominable to do so at the Holocaust museum and Arlington national cemetery. When our historical places and memorials are so disrespected you know society is in decline and we are as the late Bob Grant used to say slipping and sliding toward third worldism.