A Kentucky man took to Facebook to complain over the treatment his family received at a trick-or-treat event Thursday evening at which he and his 5-year-old son were dressed as Nazis.
In the Facebook post, Bryant Goldbach, of Owensboro, said that “Tonight as we walked we saw people dressed as murderers, devils, serial killers, blood and gore of all sorts. Nobody batted an eye. But my little boy and I, dress as historical figures, and it merits people not only making snide remarks, but approaching us and threatening my little 5-year-old boy.
“That’s right. Tonight grown adults threatened a child over his costume. Threatened his mom and dad as well. Threatened to rip his outfit off of him screaming obscenities, scareing [sic] a small child.
“Yes, liberalism is alive and well,” Goldbach said. “And we had the displeasure of dealing with the fruits of the so-called ‘Tolerant Left.’”
Attached to the post was a photo in which Goldbach is wearing a Nazi SS uniform. His son is dressed as Adolf Hitler.
The photo has since gone viral, racking up nearly 36,000 upvotes on Reddit and garnering media attention.
The post is no longer visible on Goldbach’s Facebook page, and tristatehomepage.com reported that he apologized for the choice of costume.
“I think it was in bad taste for me to let my child to wear that, probably for me to wear that. It didn’t occur to me. I thought it was a bad decision on my part,” the website reports Goldbach as saying.
Rabbi Gary Mazo of Temple Adath B’nai Israel in nearby Evansville, Indiana, said in a statement that anti-Semitism should not have a place in Halloween festivities.
“The fact that the father apologized is important; the fact he did not know the costumes would be offensive is a very sad reflection on our society. A good rule of thumb would be: If your costume calls to mind an event where millions were killed, choose another costume,” Mazo said.
While in his post Goldbach purports simply that “we love history,” his Facebook profile says he “likes” pages such as Everything’s Going To Be Alt-Right; White-Wing Politics; and Feminism is Cancer.
In response to a critical social media user who shared the original post, MaryAnne Goldbach, whose Facebook profile photo shows her with Goldbach in SS uniform along with their four children, said that “the mass media has portrayed the Holohoax.”
“There is no objective proof of the six million Jews he supposedly murdered,” MaryAnne Goldbach wrote. “If there really was a Holocaust, then why does it have to be forced down your throat. Open your eyes people. I will not let my kids be taught stupidity.”
