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An Indiana chapter of the conservative Moms for Liberty has said it had erred in quoting Hitler in its inaugural newsletter to members.
The Hamilton County chapter of Moms for Liberty launched its newsletter, “The Parent Brigade,” on Wednesday. Featured prominently on the front page were words from Hitler: “He alone who owns the youth gains the future.”
The group has since uploaded to its website a new front page without the quote. Earlier this morning, it also emailed a statement to the Indianapolis Star and posted a statement to its Facebook page.
“We condemn Adolf Hitler’s actions and his dark place in human history. We should not have quoted him in our newsletter and express our deepest apology,” chapter Chairwoman Paige Miller said in the statement,
The usage of the quote has been denounced by Republican and Democrat leadership in Hamilton County, an area north of Indianapolis that includes major suburbs like Carmel.
In a statement condemning the use of the Hitler quote, state Sen. J.D. Ford, an Indiana Democrat who represents areas including Hamilton County’s Clay Township, said, “Six million Jewish people lost their lives because of the rhetoric and ideals that were pushed by Hitler. We fought a global war — thousands of American service members lost their lives — to extinguish the type of hateful, anti-Semitic language and views promoted by Hitler.”
Rep. Mary Miller, then a newly elected Republican House member from Illinois, used the same quote when she spoke before a rally full of supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The rally, organized by Moms for America, took place just a day before the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
Moms for Liberty has been at the forefront of leading censorship efforts that include book bans that limit the teaching of the Holocaust in public schools. Earlier this year, for instance, they led efforts to ban Anne Frank’s diary in Florida because of content they deemed “sexually explicit.” The group has been cited as an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.