Texas Republicans use Holocaust Remembrance Day to bash leftism – and it quickly backfires

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Republican Party of Harris County, Texas, published a post blaming the genocide of European Jews during the Third Reich on leftism, reports the Houston Chronicle.

"Leftism kills," the group wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post published on Sunday. "In memory of the 6 million Jews lost to Nazi hatred in the name of National Socialism. We will never forget."

The post did not got over well. The Anti-Defamation League weighed in with history lesson.

"The Holocaust should never be used for political purposes," wrote spokeswoman Dena Marks in a statement to the Chronicle. "It's unfortunate that someone at the Harris County Republican Party thought that would be an appropriate message for Holocaust Remembrance Day. It wasn't leftism that killed in the Holocaust. Anti-Semitism and blind hatred led to the deaths of millions."

"We are glad the Harris County GOP replaced the offensive post," she added.

At first, the communications director defended the posted, noting the similarity between the words "National Socialists" and "socialism."

"The Nazis identified themselves as National Socialists. The name of the party was the National Socialist Workers party," he said.

Although they eventually removed the post, they maintained their position that they were correct in drawing the comparison—even though socialist and right-wing self-described Nazis have historically opposed each other.

Communists, socialists and Nazis fought in the streets of Germany before Adolph Hitler consolidated power and communists and socialists were among first targets for extermination of the Nazi regime.