Congresswoman claims to be Jewish, revealed to be granddaughter of Nazi

Florida Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna was outed by The Washington Post on Friday for lying about her Jewish heritage in a previous interview with the Jewish Insider in November 2022.

Not only is Luna almost certainly not Jewish, but also according to several family members, reports the Washington Post, Luna's paternal grandfather Heinrich Mayerhofer, who died in 2003, served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany when he was a teenager in the 1940s.

"I was raised as a Messianic Jew by my father,” Luna had told the Jewish Insider, clarifying that she identifies as a Christian. “I am also a small fraction Ashkenazi."

The Insider had interviewed Luna in reaction to the fact that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, known for her "Jewish space laser" conspiracy, had endorsed Luna's candidacy for Congress. "If she were antisemitic," asked Luna after claiming Ashkenazi roots, "why did she endorse me?"

“I in no way, shape or form would ever put myself in a position where I’m hanging out with someone like that, and so I just don’t see that Marjorie Taylor Greene is that person,” said Luna told the Insider. “If I see it happening on the right, I’m the first person to condemn it and say, like, ‘Hey, that’s not cool. I don’t align with that.’”

US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks at a news conference where she introduced a resolution to investigate funding for Ukraine, on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, November 17, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/AMANDA ANDRADE-RHOADES)

The COVID-19 vaccine and Nazi Germany

Luna has not shied away from invoking the Nazis in her political rhetoric online. In 2021, she tweeted a video insinuating that a registry of Americans who were not vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus would be akin to the Nazis' list of Jews. "'Nazi Germany Registry' of Unvaccinated Americans: Think About It Like The Jewish Star,'" she tweeted.

BREAKING PART 2: @US_FDA Official: ‘Blow Darting African Americans Is Where We’re Going...Just Shoot Everyone’'Nazi Germany Registry' of Unvaccinated Americans: “Think About It Like The Jewish Star”'Go Door-To-Door & Stab Everyone'#ExposeFDA pic.twitter.com/ExSIFQyuXo — Anna Paulina Luna (@VoteAPL) September 23, 2021

The Washington Post reported that Luna, who is now considered the first Mexican American woman to represent Florida in Congress, at one time described herself as Middle Eastern, Jewish or Eastern European.

There were also several other discrepancies in her account of her own heritage and upbringing, according to the Post, which allegedly resulted in the congresswoman representing herself as coming from more humble beginnings than she truly does.

The revelation of Luna's true heritage comes shortly after US Rep. George Santos was also revealed to have lied about being Jewish among other untruths he spread during his campaign.