School Board Candidate: 'Not All Nazis Were Bad'

There are multiple candidates running for seats on the Zionsville Community Schools Board of Trustees in Indiana, including Dr. Matt Keefer, an anesthesiologist who calls himself an independent option disliked by both "Republican leaders" and the "extreme left" due to his critical thinking and inability to "be controlled." Pushback against him has reached new levels, however, after he recently defended some of the Nazis during World War II in comments under an online post, reports FOX59. The controversy started when Keefer, who runs on an anti- "wokeness" and "indoctrination" platform, was asked in a since-deleted Facebook thread if teachers asserting that the Tulsa Massacre was terrible, or that all Nazis were bad, would be considered "indoctrination," in his eyes. Keefer's response is what instantly raised eyebrows.

"All Nazis weren't 'bad,' as you specify," he told his questioner. "They did horrible things. They were in a group frenzy in both cases you site [sic]. 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." He added in a later post: "There were certainly evil Nazis. There were also good people who had to be Nazis (or they would have been killed)." Backlash against his remarks were swift. "When you hear statements like this, it diminishes the Holocaust, it diminishes the memory," the head of the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council tells FOX59. "This hurts so much inside." "I just couldn't fathom" what he wrote, a parent in the district tells WTHR, which notes that despite the outcry by many in the community, Keefer still has some supporters thanking him for his candor and "listening to the community."

At any rate, Keefer doesn't seem fazed by the commotion. In a post he has since taken down, per FOX59, he blamed the "far left" for attacking him and wrote, "I know haters gotta hate, so please continue spewing your taunts. I'm only getting stronger in the community!" In a longer post on Facebook Thursday, which remained up as of Friday morning, Keefer tripled down, stating, "A few days ago I made the comment 'not all Nazis were bad' ... I am correct." He added, though, that his argument contained "nuance," and that "to be clear: I never was, am not now, and never will be a Nazi sympathizer." Some of the comments under that post remained supportive, though one person wrote, "Not everyone in the drug cartels or mafia are bad people either." WTHR rounds up statements from a few of Keefer's rivals for the board over his remarks. (More Nazis stories.)