New York Lawmaker Says ‘I Salute All Who Served’ In Strange Veterans Day Post Honoring Nazi Grandfather

A New York congressional candidate made the strange decision to honor his grandfather’s service to the Nazis under Adolf Hitler in World War II in a since-deleted Facebook post.

According to a Saturday, August 22 report from The New York Post, Republican State Senator Peter Oberacker previously shared an image of his late grandfather, Ludwig Oberacker, wearing his Nazi military uniform, complete with iconography like the swastika and more. The post was originally posted in 2015 on Veterans Day.

“I debated on whether to post this picture, my Grandfather [sic] Ludwig Oberacker who gave his life for his country, I salute all who served,” Oberacker captioned the post at the time.

The post puzzled many when it was first rediscovered, as Oberacker is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Josh Riley in the state’s 19th Congressional District. Oberacker previously sat on the state Senate’s Republican antisemitism working group.

“I have always condemned and fought against antisemitism,” the politician told The New York Post in a statement. Oberacker went on to accuse his opponents of not doing the same.

Despite sharing the tribute on social media, Oberacker went on to seemingly express regret, nothing that he can understand why it’s being perceived negatively through today’s landscape.

This isn’t the first time that Oberacker’s campaign brushed up against Nazi criticism. When Politico previously uncovered a trove of young Republican leaders’ text messages praising Hitler, joking about assault and using racial slurs, Bobby Walker — who Oberacker was looking at to be his campaign manager — was among the people in the chat.