Denver, October 26, 2010 ... The Mountain States Region of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on Coloradoans during this election season to avoid Nazi and Holocaust analogies in political debate.

ADL Mountain States Interim Regional Director Joyce Rubin issued the following statement:

As an organization committed to honoring the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the Anti-Defamation League is deeply disturbed by reports that proponents of Colorado's Amendment 62 (the "Personhood" amendment) set up and supported a Facebook page calling people who would vote against the Amendment "Nazis."  There is simply no comparison between the Nazi regime, which perpetrated the slaughter of millions of Jews and others in the Holocaust, and Colorado voters who do not want the government to interfere with a woman's private family planning decisions. 

We are equally disturbed by the reported statement of Personhood Colorado Director Gualberto Garcia Jones comparing abortion to "what Nazis did to Jews."  The Holocaust was a unique tragedy in human history.  The increasingly common use of Holocaust analogies trivializes and diminishes the horror and causes further pain to Holocaust survivors and to those alive today who lost friends and loved ones.

The Anti-Defamation League is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and does not support or oppose candidates for office.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.