CARLSBAD, Calif. – A young school board candidate is in hot water after photos of himself in a German military uniform posted on Facebook five years ago have resurfaced.

Sage Naumann, now 19, posted photos of himself in his Halloween costume in 2009.

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His Facebook comments included “Sad Natsi mourns the loss of ze Fuhrer” and “Angry German waiting for candy,” according to U-T San Diego.

Now, in the midst of a campaign for the Carlsbad Unified school board, Naumann says he “regrets” the photos and comments.

“It is the most ridiculous thing. They are trying to make me look like I’m anti-Semitic or a Nazi supporter,” Naumann says, according to the paper.

“I was 14 years old at this party. The uniform isn’t a Nazi uniform.”

The candidate says it was a communist uniform.

“If it was a Nazi uniform, and that makes me anti-Semitic, if I wore a devil uniform then does that make me a Satanist?” he said.

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Naumann has the backing of several southern California Republicans, some of whom are backing away.

“It’s obvious that the outfit was an extremely poor choice by a 14-year-old to make. We will discuss this at our next meeting to hear all the facts and consider whether to withdraw our endorsement,” says Tony Krvaric, chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego County.

The photos have been circulated by a parent, Mike Guerreiro, who is supportive of Naumann’s opponent, the incumbent.

He circulated them among “parent-teacher and union groups,” according to the paper.

“Every single person has done stupid things when they are young, but nobody I know has ever, ever dressed as a Nazi and posted it on their Facebook page,” Guerreiro says.

Richard Rider of San Diego Tax Fighters wasn’t buying the hubbub:

I wonder. If someone performed in THE PRODUCERS’ musical “Springtime for Hitler,” should they be precluded from ever seriously running for office? Or should a kid dressed up as the infamous, clueless SGT Shultz from HOGAN’S HEROES be forever condemned?

I might add that I lost most of my mother’s family in the ovens of Europe. Legally I’m considered Jewish — not religiously. I have zero sympathy for NAZI’s and their modern day counterparts. May they all burn in hell.

“Marilynn Gallagher, a parent supporting Naumann’s campaign, said critics are grasping for straws,” the paper reports.