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UPDATE: Updated with action by Jim Lucas to visit CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana State House Representative Jim Lucas faces controversy after featuring a quote by the infamous Nazi Joseph Goebbels on his Facebook page.

Rep. Lucas – a Republican representing Indiana District 69 – changed his cover page photo to a screenshot featuring the quote saying:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its power to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Above the quote was the title, “Joseph Goebbels: On the ‘Big Lie'” and underneath that was a link labeled “The Jewish Question”.

Lucas’ Democrat challenger for District 69, Chad Harmon, made a social media post calling out a sitting state representative posting a Nazi quote. “It’s pretty horrifying actually, and as a constituent I just feel disrespected,” Harmon said, echoing other Indiana Democrats in their denouncement of the quote being posted.

“His actions follow a troubling pattern within the Indiana Republican Party of allowing extremism to bleed into party politics and even policy…” the Indiana Democratic Party issued in a statement.

This is not the first time Lucas has been at the center of attention for what he has posted online. Previously Lucas has posted an image of nooses hanging from gallows under a story of a black man that pled guilty to rape, and also posting an image of black children dancing in their underwear captioned “We gon’ get free money!”

Quickly after being posted, Lucas removed the recent quoted image from his Facebook cover page. When reached out for a comment, Lucas’ office did not give a statement.

 

On Thursday, Rep. Lucas visited the CANDELS Holocaust Museum and Education center. That same center had released a previous statement condemning the posting of the quote attributed to Goebbels.

The center sent a press release Thursday, saying Lucas visited the museum on his own accord. “I am very appreciative of Rep. Lucas for visiting CANDLES,” Troy Fears, Executive Director of CANDELS, said. “And for his efforts to find out why we found his recent social media post problematic. We are always happy to engage in conversations that lead to a greater understanding of the Holocaust.”