Harris County GOP draws fire for post blaming "leftism" for the Holocaust

Harris County Republican Party's Holocaust post on its Facebook page earlier Sunday. It has since been removed. Harris County Republican Party's Holocaust post on its Facebook page earlier Sunday. It has since been removed. Photo: Facebook Photo: Facebook Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Harris County GOP draws fire for post blaming "leftism" for the Holocaust 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The Harris County Republican Party on Sunday stirred up controversy after the group blamed the Holocaust on "leftism" in a public Facebook post.

"Leftism kills," the group wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post published on Sunday, Holocaust Remembrance Day. "In memory of the 6 million Jews lost to Nazi hatred in the name of National Socialism. We will never forget."

Dena Marks, a spokeswoman the Anti-Defamation League, expressed her displeasure after the Chronicle sought her opinion about the post.

"The Holocaust should never be used for political purposes," she wrote in a statement to Chronicle. "It's unfortunate that someone at the Harris County Republican Party thought that would be an appropriate message for Holocaust Remembrance Day. It wasn't leftism that killed in the Holocaust. Anti-Semitism and blind hatred led to the deaths of millions."

"We are glad the Harris County GOP replaced the offensive post," she added.

Vlad Davidiuk, communications director at the Harris County Republican Party, initially declined to comment on the post except to say: "The Nazis identified themselves as National Socialists. The name of the party was the National Socialist Workers party."

The post was subsequently amended to remove "leftism kills" before being taken down altogether.

In a follow-up comment, Davidiuk said he'd taken down the post because "we don't want a statement from us to be a distraction" from remembrances of the six million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust.

"However, that withstanding, history recognizes that the Jews were killed by the Nazis and the Nazis were officially the National Socialist Workers Party," he added.

Nazis, who killed left-wing activists among other victims, have traditionally been viewed by historians as a right-wing fascist movement.

On Monday, Harris County GOP chairman Paul Simpson said in a statement that the party had filed a police report after someone phoned in a death threat to its headquarters in response to the post.

He called the use of the phrase "leftism kills" in the social media post "inartful," but said the party stood by its message.

"All Americans should be on guard against the dangers of ideologies that demean the value of individual human lives to the collective," Simpson wrote. "That includes socialism in all forms, whether 20th-century German National Socialism or today's glossed-over socialism that is condoned and even promoted by those who should know better. "