'I could barely speak': Shock as GOP lawmaker nominates Nazi apologist for Holocaust board

A New Hampshire Republican tried to stack a local Holocaust remembrance board with a Nazi apologist who has been convicted of public lewdness at a children's playground.

According to NPR, at a January meeting of the New Hampshire Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Education, state Rep. Matt Sabourin dit Choinière "proposed an amendment to add a new member to the commission from an extremist group led by Germar Rudolf, a longtime Holocaust denial activist, whose claims have been repeatedly debunked. Rudolf contends — despite overwhelming evidence — that the Nazis never used gas chambers to commit mass murder. At the invitation of Sabourin dit Choiniere, Rudolf testified at the hearing along with two other men known for their antisemitic activism."

Ultimately, the amendment was not adopted — but the whole episode shocked those in attendance.

"Shocked would be an understatement," said state Rep. Loren Selig, who is Jewish and had in the same meeting introduced an amendment to extend the term of the commission. "I could barely speak."

Sabourin dit Choinière has not apologized for any of this, instead doubling down and took Holocaust Remembrance Day to post an image of himself proposing the amendment with the caption "ahead of our time."

Per NPR, not only is Rudolf a Nazi apologist who has been convicted of Holocaust denial in Germany, he has a bizarre criminal record in the United States as well, for a completely different reason.

"In 2020, Rudolf was convicted of open lewdness and indecent exposure in Pennsylvania after a police officer found him n---- from the waist down at a children's playground around 4 a.m. Local law enforcement was familiar with Rudolf, according to trial testimony obtained by NPR, because police had previously encountered him swimming n--- in a nearby river," said the report. "Rudolf insisted that he was not n---- at the playground, just wearing what he called 'skimpy' tiger-print shorts to exercise. He describes himself as an active triathlete and has written about receiving workout tips from David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader."

This is not even the only antisemitism controversy in New Hampshire's Republican caucus this year. In April, the state House formally moved to discipline Rep. Travis Corcoran after he called for a "final solution" in response to a Jewish lawmaker's karaoke night invitation.