RFK Jr. Once Took to Twitter To Say Sorry for an Offensive Remark He Made About Anne Frank

At an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration in Washington, D.C., Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once drew criticism from Jewish organizations when he brought up Anne Frank in his remarks. Apart from the critics, the members of his own family were quite critical of his statement: that Anne Frank had more freedom while hiding from the Nazis than modern Americans have due to the country's vaccination rules.

He tweeted at the time, "I apologize for my reference to Anne Frank, especially to families that suffered the Holocaust horrors. I intended to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control. To the extent my remarks caused hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry."

RFK Jr. is the son of the late U.S. senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. It is worth noting that this entire ordeal transpired when Robert addressed a crowd against a proposed vaccination requirement. From the sound of his words, it seemed as if he were trying to imply that unvaccinated Americans had it tougher than Anne Frank, the adolescent girl who hid from the Nazis in a Dutch attic for almost two years before being discovered and transferred to a concentration camp. In the speech, Kennedy compared vaccination practices to totalitarian rule. 

The environmental lawyer said, "What we’re seeing today is what I call turnkey totalitarianism. They are putting in place all of these technological mechanisms for control we’ve never seen before. It’s been the ambition of every totalitarian state since the beginning of mankind to control every aspect of behavior, conduct, of thought, and to obliterate dissent. None of them have been able to do it. They didn’t have the technological capacity." While addressing 'Hitler's Germany,' he continued, "Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did. I visited in 1962 East Germany with my father and met people who had climbed the wall and escaped, so it was possible. Many died … but it was possible."

Jewish organizations pounced on Kennedy's statements, denouncing them as hurtful and pointing out their inaccuracy. In a Tweet, his sister Kerry criticized him, as she wrote, "Bobby's lies and fear-mongering yesterday were both sickening and destructive. I strongly condemn him for his hateful rhetoric." In fact, as per CNN, his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, also wrote in a now-deleted Tweet: "My husband's reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive. The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own."

The Auschwitz Memorial in Germany, a homage to the over one million people who died in Nazi concentration camps, also criticized the comparison. It tweeted, "Exploiting of the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured & murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany — including children like Anne Frank — in a debate about vaccines & limitations during a global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral & intellectual decay."