US congressman condemned for Auschwitz gas chamber video
- Published
Officials at Auschwitz have criticised a US congressman for making and voicing a video inside a gas chamber at the former Nazi death camp.
The memorial and museum tweeted, external that the gas chamber was "not a stage" but was a place for mournful silence.
Republican Clay Higgins said in the video , externalthat the horrors of the WW2 death camps were the reason why the US military should be "invincible".
Some 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, died at the Nazi-occupied Poland camp.
Mr Higgins made a five-minute video showing him in different parts of the museum talking about the atrocities in the death camp.
At one point, he goes inside a gas chamber and explains how the victims were gassed.
"This is why Homeland Security must be squared away, why our military must be invincible," he says.
But the museum responded that it was inappropriate to speak inside the gas chambers.
"Everyone has the right to personal reflections. However, inside a former gas chamber, there should be mournful silence. It's not a stage," it tweeted on Tuesday.
Later it posted a picture of the entrance to the building showing a plaque asking for silence.
Who is Clay Higgins?
A former senior policeman known as the "Cajun John Wayne" from when he hosted weekly Crime Stoppers segment of local news show
Resigned from St Landry sheriff's office for causing controversy with viral online videos
Elected as Republican congressman in December 2016 for Louisiana's third district, in a shock result , externalin the wake of Donald Trump's presidential victory
Reacted to London Bridge terror attack in June by saying Christians were "at war with Islamic horror" and calling for all radical Islamists to be hunted down and killed
The Louisiana congressman has not yet responded to the criticism. His offices were closed for the Fourth of July holiday.
However, the video was not being displayed on his website and social media users suggested it had been removed.
The Anti-Defamation League, an American-Jewish anti-discrimination organisation, said the video was "incredibly disrespectful to the hallowed ground" of the memorial and museum.
Some Twitter users reacted with fury.
- Published15 June 2017
- Published27 January 2017