Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine says comments from a Republican state senator and his wife comparing COVID-19 actions made by Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton to rules from Nazi Germany must be condemned.
The wife of Senator Andrew Brenner made a post and he commented “We won’t allow that to happen in Ohio.” The comments were posted on National Holocaust Remembrance Day. Acton is Jewish. Some Ohio protesters put anti-Semitic symbols on signs over the weekend. The post that was deleted on Tuesday said “With a German accent, in your head say ‘show me your papers’...This is downright scary! You don’t issue people certificates to be able to function outside their home. ... This actually feels like Hitler’s Germany where you had to have blonde hair and blue eyes to be able to function anywhere, and you were damned otherwise. When are people going to say enough is enough?”.” It was accompanied by a picture of Acton. Sara Brenner says the post was taken out of context. The Republican president of the Ohio Senate and Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timkin also publically condemned the comments.
