Top Michigan Democratic fundraiser criticized for praising Nazi officer relative

A top Michigan Democratic fundraiser is under fire for a Veterans Day social media post in which she paid tribute to her grandfather, who served as an officer in the Nazi military forces during World War II.

Kelly Neumann, fundraising host for Democratic Michigan gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson and senatorial candidate Mallory McMorrow, paid tribute to her grandfather, Albert Neumann, a German World War II military officer whom she called “one of my best friends.”

In a Veterans Day 2024 Facebook post featuring photos of a man wearing a Nazi uniform, Neumann praised his grandfather, writing, “His story is a true testimony that people can change and that love can indeed win.” »

The post appears to have been deleted from Neumann’s account following Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Left: Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and U.S. Senate candidate State Sen. Mallory McMorrow. (Shahar Azran/Getty Images; MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Neumann wrote in his post: “Happy Veterans Day to all my friends and family who have served/served! Without you, America would not be here today.”

“I don’t talk much about [him] but my grandfather, Albert Neumann, was on the German side in World War I and World War II,” she continued. “He fled to Brazil with my father after Germany’s defeat in World War II, then went to Detroit where they spoke no English and worked to provide a stable life for their family.”

“My grandfather was one of my best friends,” she wrote. “He was one of the first people in my life to accept me as gay when I was nervous and scared.”

“I will never forget him, embracing and loving me for who I am,” Neumann continued, concluding, “Her story is a true testimony that people can change and that love can indeed win.”

The post sparked outrage online after resurfacing.

Los Angeles rabbi and author David Wolpe commented: “This is so outrageous that I had to verify that it wasn’t a hoax. »

Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Aric Nesbitt wrote: “I guess escaping justice for war crimes, death camps, genocide, and Nazi salutes is okay as long as you’re ultimately a far-left extremist.”

“Michigan wants to get off that ride,” Nesbitt added.

Rep. Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, responded: “When Democrats tell you who they are, believe them.”

“Unsurprisingly, the party that falsely refers to Republicans as “Nazis” HONORS THE REAL NAZIS,” McClain wrote. “That tells you everything about the current state of the Democratic Party.”

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Democratic Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow holds up a book on Project 2025 during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., Monday, August 19, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Neumann, Benson and McMorrow did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Benson currently serves as Michigan’s Secretary of State and McMorrow is a state senator running for U.S. Senate.

In addition to being a fundraiser, Neumann has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Michigan Democrats, including Senators Elissa Slotkin and Debbie Stabenow.

Although she did not respond to Neumann’s Nazi Facebook post, McMorrow posted on X Tuesday that “on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 81 years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945, we remember the six million Jews and countless others killed by the Nazis.”

“The Holocaust attempted to exterminate an entire people – their lives, their culture, their families – by perpetuating a cycle of hatred, anti-Semitism, dehumanization and lies,” McMorrow wrote. “Today, we reaffirm our commitment to fighting anti-Semitism and hatred in all its forms so that these horrors never happen again.”

Last October, Benson and McMorrow were criticized for headlining a “unity dinner” at which supporters of President Donald Trump were likened to Nazis.

The sign, posted by local Democrats, read “MAGA=NAZI” and “86 47.” The number “86” originated in restaurants to mean “cancel” or “discard”, but in underworld slang it is frequently used as a call sign for murdering someone. The number “47” is commonly interpreted to refer to the 47th President of the United States, Trump.

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Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, points out a covered tattoo that was previously an image recognized as a Nazi symbol, during an interview Wednesday in Portland, Maine. (WGME via AP)

McMorrow, who is running in the crowded Democratic Senate primary, also sparked a backlash on social media last year when she shared a violent fantasy about conservative Supreme Court justices.

An attendee at a Huron Valley Indivisible event on Nov. 12 asked McMorrow if it “made sense to deal with the Supreme Court.”

The state senator responded: “So, I graduated from Notre Dame and Amy Coney Barrett coming out of my college makes me furious. Just on a personal level.”

She continued, “I talked to someone yesterday who said they saw her and Brett Kavanaugh at a tailgate last weekend,” adding, “I couldn’t control myself. It would be bad. There would be beers thrown in people’s faces.”

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, Senate Leadership Fund spokesperson Chris Gustafson drew a line between the Facebook post and Maine’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Graham Platner. Platner, a progressive Democrat, sparked his own controversy last year when he was found to have a tattoo resembling the Nazi SS symbol “Totenkopf.” Platner has since had the tattoo covered.

“From Mallory McMorrow in Michigan to Graham Platner in Maine, the Democratic Party’s penchant for Nazi insignia is a sad and disturbing trend,” Gustafson said, adding, “The fact that McMorrow is still silent is telling.”

Alec Schemmel of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.