Kansas newspaper editorial cartoon equates COVID-19 mask-wearing to Holocaust

A Kansas newspaper is under fire for a shocking editorial cartoon.

The Anderson County Review, a weekly journal with a circulation of approximately 3,000, is being raked over the coals after publishing a depiction of European Jews boarding trains en route to concentration camps juxtaposed with an illustration of Kansas’ governor, Laura Kelly, sporting a Star of David mask.

The jarring image is accompanied by the caption, “Lockdown Laura says: Put on you mask. . . . and step onto the cattle car.”

The cartoon, which was posted on the newspaper’s Facebook homepage on Friday, draws an egregious parallel between Kelly’s recent statewide COVID-19 mask mandate and the slaughter of millions of Jews during the Holocaust.

The newspaper’s publisher, Dane Hicks, is a county Republican Party chairman.

Kelly issued the order after an alarming spike of coronavirus cases had been reported within the state. The total neared 16,000 by Saturday with 277 confirmed deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The governor has condemned the cartoon.

“Mr. Hicks’ decision to publish anti-Semitic imagery is deeply offensive and he should remove it immediately,” said the 70-year-old Democrat.

The timing of the cartoon was likely key to the post, as Kelly’s mask decree went into effect on Friday, reported The Associated Press.

Unsurprisingly, the post has drawn an overwhelmingly massive number of excoriating comments.

“This is nauseatingly ignorant. I cannot believe the trash you post as a ‘news’ organization,” wrote Bonnie Cress Folkerts in a Facebook reply on Friday. “If you don’t agree with the mandate, fine. However to compare it to the Holocaust is beyond repulsive and offensive.”

Another critic on Facebook took a similar tack.

“This appropriation of Holocaust imagery is vile and dishonors the memory of the dead,” said David Gorski in a separate post on Saturday. “You and the vile cartoonist should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Kelly defeated conservative hardliner and vociferous Barack Obama birther Kris Kobach for the governor’s seat in 2018.