Ahead of a conversation at a European Jewish Association event in Krakow, Poland, billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro took some time on Monday to tour the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the association, and Gidon Lev, a Holocaust survivor, joined them at the private visit to the camp, where they laid wreaths, lit candles and observed a memorial service. Musk was photographed at the site with his son, X.
The annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on Jan. 27, the day that prisoners at Auschwitz were liberated.
During their talk at the association event, Musk said that people should be wary of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), as well as any other name “that sounds like it could come out of a George Orwell book.” He also said that world opinion has to “get rid of the rule that if you’re weaker, you’re automatically good. That obviously makes no sense.”
In the past, many in the Jewish community and elsewhere have claimed that Musk allows antisemitism to spread on the social-media network X (formerly Twitter), which he purchased in April 2022 and now runs. Some have accused Musk of posting antisemitic material. He has clashed in the past with the Anti-Defamation League.
Today @elonmusk and @benshapiro visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp pic.twitter.com/zPbJnsZlBQ
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 22, 2024