Auschwitz Museum condemns RFK Jr. for invoking Anne Frank at anti-mandate rally
The Auschwitz Museum denounced Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday, after he compared vaccine mandates and passports to the Holocaust.
Kennedy spoke at a "Defeat the Mandates" rally in Washington, D.C., sharing conspiracy theories about 5G and digital currency to a crowd of thousands. "Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did," he said. "Mechanisms are being put in place so that none of us can run and none of us can hide."
Within five years, Kennedy continued, "we're going to see 415,000 low-orbit satellites. Bill Gates says his 65,000 satellites alone will be able to look at every square inch of the planet 24 hours a day. 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."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
During World War II, Anne Frank, her parents and sister, and four other Jewish people hid from the Nazis in a secret annex in Amsterdam. After being betrayed, they were all sent to concentration camps, with only Frank's father, Otto, surviving. Anne Frank first went to Auschwitz, and was later sent to Bergen-Belsen, where she died at 15, not long before the camp was liberated.
The Auschwitz Memorial responded to Kennedy's remarks on Twitter, saying, "Exploiting the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured, and murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany — including children like Anne Frank — in a debate about vaccines and limitations during global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decay."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Today's political cartoons - March 27, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - Diddy raided, Biden investigated, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 presumed dead in Baltimore bridge collapse
Speed Read A massive cargo ship hit a support pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to crumple
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Best music albums: new releases of 2024
The Week Recommends A round-up of the best pop, dance, indie, classical and rock releases
By The Week UK Published
-
Covid four years on: have we got over the pandemic?
Today's Big Question Brits suffering from both lockdown nostalgia and collective trauma that refuses to go away
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The hollow classroom
Opinion Remote school let kids down. It will take much more than extra tutoring for kids to recover.
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Excess screen time is making children only see what is in front of them
Under the radar The future is looking blurry. And very nearsighted.
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Covid-19: what to know about UK's new Juno and Pirola variants
in depth Rapidly spreading new JN.1 strain is 'yet another reminder that the pandemic is far from over'
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Long-term respiratory illness is here to stay
The Explainer Covid is not the only disease with a long version
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical records
Speed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problem
Speed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published