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Robert F Kennedy Jr slammed for 'appalling' Anne Frank comparison at anti-vax rally

RFK Jr. widely slammed after viral comments at an anti-vax rally in DC, Auschwitz Memorial calls it 'symptom of moral and intellectual decay'

On January 23, a large group of anti-vaxxers gathered at the National Mall in Washington DC for a rally titled 'Defeat the Mandate'. The rally also drew the attention of several high profile anti-vaxxers like Fox News' Lara Logan and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The rally remained largely out of the mainstream media and even social media, until RFK Jr.'s speech, which instantly went viral for his comparison of the current situation to the holocaust.

Of course, this is nothing new. Ever since mask mandates were introduced, a large number of vocal anti-vaxxers have compared the mandates to conditions under Nazi Germany, In May 2021, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene drew widespread condemnation and calls to be expelled after she said being forced to mask up or vaccinate was "exactly the type of abuse" Jews faced under Hitler. Similar statements have since been made by New Jersey State Senator Edward Durr and Oklahoma's GOP Chairman John Bennett. 

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Despite the widespread backlash, even from senior Republicans like Kevin McCarthy, it seems right-wing extremists cannot stop the holocaust comparisons. RFK Jr.'s comments were not only slammed by a large number of users on social media but by the Auschwitz Memorial as well. 

'You could hide in an attic'

Ironically invoking Martin Luther King Jr. and those that died in World War 2, attendees gathered at the National Mall in large numbers without masks and carried signs like "Covid- 1948" and "Mandate freedom". Del Bigtree the CEO of the group Informed Consent Action Network told attendees, "Unlike the Nuremberg Trials that only tried those doctors that destroyed the lives of those human beings, we’re going to come after the press." The New York Post reported he threatened to murder journalists and Dr. Anthony Fauci, but those comments were quickly overshadowed by RFK Jr.'s speech.

"Even in Hitler’s Germany you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did," RFK Jr. said, as he recounted his visit to East Germany in 1962 with his father, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He then went on to claim, "Today the mechanisms are being put in place to make it so that none of us can run and none of us can hide. They’re putting in 5G to harvest our data and control our behavior. Digital currency that will allow them to punish us from a distance and cut off our food supply."

Here's a video of the comments, as first reported by NBC's Ben Collins who was reporting live from the rally-

'Have you no shame?'

Condemning the comments, the Auschwitz Memorial replied to Collins' tweet by saying, "Exploiting of the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured & murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany - including children like Anne Frank - in a debate about vaccines & limitations during global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral & intellectual decay." They weren't the only ones to slam RFK Jr. "I guess RFK Jr. was asleep the day the teacher mentioned what happened to Anne Frank after the book ended," one user trolled while another said, "@RobertKennedyJr: Have you no shame? This comparison is disgusting & dangerous & so deeply stupid."

"Dear @RobertKennedyJr Your father would be repulsed by what you said today about the Holocaust. Repulsed. WTF happened to you?" one person slammed. Another replied, "This is appalling. Trading off the Kennedy name to spew this dangerous anti-vax, anti-science rhetoric that is straight out of the QAnon playbook. How dare he diminish the legacies of RFK and Anne Frank in this way?" One person tweeted, "RFK, Jr. is an embarrassment to his family’s legacy, to the legal profession and to America."