Indiana School Board Candidate Defends Nazis As Not All ‘Bad’

An Indiana anesthesiologist running for a chair on his local school board is under fire after declaring that “all Nazis weren’t ‘bad’” in a Facebook post.

Matt Keefer, who is running for a spot on the Zionsville school board located northwest of Indianapolis, was responding to a question about “indoctrination” in schools when he made the controversial comments, according to a screengrab of the post circulating on social media and obtained by Indianapolis station WTHR.

“Can they also teach students that all Nazis are bad?’” he was asked.

“All Nazis weren’t ‘bad’ as you specify. They did horrible things. They were in a group frenzy in both cases you site [sic],” his response reads. “Who is to say if we were both there in the same place and same time, that we wouldn’t have done the same thing.”

The Nazis persecuted and murdered six million Jews and millions of other Holocaust victims while subjecting them to torture, unethical medical experiments, and imprisonment in concentration camps. Those who spoke out against Hitler and his policies risked intimidation, threats, imprisonment and in some cases, execution. German police forces, including the infamous Gestapo, helped enforce and protect the Nazi regime, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Keefer went on to suggest in his post that “presentism,” which Merriam-Webster defines as “an attitude toward the past dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences,” may be to blame for today’s judgment of Nazis.

Keefer declined to comment on the record when reached by HuffPost Thursday and instead referred questions to his campaign manager who did not immediately respond.

Local parents and others running as candidates for the Zionsville school board condemned Nazis in statements to WTHR and distanced themselves from his rhetoric.

“There is no need to equivocate when it comes to the Nazi party ― they were evil. Further, there were good people who refused to join with the evil ― some paying for their conviction with their freedom and their lives,” candidate Tim Hardt told the station.