‘Joe the Plumber’ Slammed for Holocaust Remark
U.S. House candidate Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher was criticized by the National Jewish Democratic Council for comments that blamed gun control for the Holocaust.
In a video released by the Ohio campaign, Wurzelbacher claimed that implementation of gun control prevented Europe’s Jews from fighting back against the Nazis.
“In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1939 to 1945, six million Jews and seven million others unable to defend themselves were exterminated,” Wurzelbacher said in the video.
In response, NJDC president and CEO David Harris said in a statment, “Using the memories of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust to make a political point is never appropriate, under any circumstances. For Ohio Republican House candidate Samuel Wurzelbacher to imply that these innocent lives were taken because of gun control laws is simply beyond the pale.”
Wurzelbacher is the Republican nominee in Ohio’s Ninth Congressional District, which is currently held by Rep. Marcy Kaptur
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
