Addressing an anti-vaccination rally in Washington, DC, American environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday compared COVID-19 vaccination mandates to the Holocaust, saying that "Even in [Adolf] Hitler's Germany... you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did," according to a tweet by NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins.
At the antivaxx rally in DC, RFK Jr. says that in the future "none of us can run and none of us can hide" because of Bill Gates' satellites and also 5G, unlike... the Holocaust."Even in Hitler's Germany, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did." pic.twitter.com/bRtmDBTxZl
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) January 23, 2022
Kennedy, who is a son of assassinated senator Robert. F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has been outspoken in his opposition to vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine.
Kennedy's organization Children's Health Defense has disseminated various conspiracy theories regarding the coronavirus pandemic, particularly via social media; Its COVID-19 vaccine-related posts have been shared more often on Twitter than vaccine-related reports from mainstream sources such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CNN, Fox News and NPR, according to a report by the Associated Press.
At the Washington rally, dubbed "Defeat the Mandates: An American Homecoming," another speaker, TV producer Del Bigtree, suggested that there should be a Nuremberg trial for medical workers and journalists, referencing the war crimes trials for Nazis that were held after World War II, according to the independent.
Throughout the pandemic, numerous public figures have drawn comparisons between COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates to the genocidal Nazi regime.
Just last week, Vickie Paladino, a member of the New York City Council apologized after she compared COVID-19 vaccination passes to Nazi oppression in interview with NY1, saying, "I don't need to show you my papers. This is not Nazi Germany."
That same week, responding to a Twitter update from Washington mayor Muriel Bowser regarding COVID-19 requirements in the city, Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson posted a photo of a Nazi-era health pass, saying "This has been done before."
Yad Vashem strongly condemned the statement: "Manipulating the Holocaust in this manner not only denigrates the memory of its victims and survivors, but also highlights a blatant disregard for the historical truth of this event, if for no other reason than to know that Anne Frank was murdered in the Holocaust purely because she was Jewish. We encourage the public to visit Yad Vashem to learn more about the Shoah."
Ben Sales and Ron Kampeas/JTA contributed to this report.