Marjorie Taylor Greene called a symptom of ‘moral and intellectual decline’ by Auschwitz Memorial

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Marjorie Taylor Greene was described as a “symptom of moral and intellectual decline” by the Auschwitz Memorial, after she compared mask mandates and Covid vaccinations to the Holocaust.

The Auschwitz Memorial – which preserves the site of the former concentration and extermination camp – tweeted on Tuesday that comparing any form of Covid rules to the murder of six million Jews was testament to “moral and intellectual decline”.

“The instrumentation of the tragedy of Jews who suffered, were humiliated, marked with a yellow star, isolated in ghettos & murdered during the Holocaust, in a debate on different systems that aim at protecting public health is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline,” the organisation wrote.

It followed Ms Greene tweeting on Tuesday that employees at a US supermarket chain were forced to wear stickers for Covid vaccinations “just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star.”

On Thursday, she also alleged in a TV interview that “any rational Jewish person” would be against the “overbearing” mask mandates for members of Congress.

“We can look back at a time in history when people were told to wear a gold star, and ... they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Ms Greene told conservative channel Real America’s Voice. “This is exactly the type of abuse”.

The Nazis murdered more than 1.1 million people at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Holocaust, a majority of whom were Jewish.

Some 11 million people – including six million Jews – were murdered, many of them at concentration and extermination camps, throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. Jews were forced to wear a yellow star, “not only to stigmatise and humiliate Jews but also to segregate them, to watch and control their movements, and to prepare for deportation”, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the Republicans in the House, criticised Ms Greene for her “appalling” remarks on Tuesday, after days of condemnation from Democrats.

“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” said Mr McCarthy in a statement. “The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling”.

Ms Greene has attempted to defend her remarks, and tweeted on Tuesday that “attempts to shame, ostracise, and brand Americans who choose not to get vaccinated or wear a mask are reminiscent of the great tyrants of history who did the same to those who would not comply”.

“I'm sorry some of my words make people uncomfortable, but this is what the American left is all about,” the congresswoman added.