Woman who went to Auschwitz with Elon Musk explains how the billionaire acted during the visit
Auschwitz is steeped in a cruel history, it bares the despicable truth behind the genocide of the Jewish people, among others.
Nowadays, it has become a dark tourist destination - and an important one, especially for Gidon Lev, a Holocaust survivor who shared a difficult tour around the complex with Elon Musk.
Lev, a Czechoslovak-born Israeli dairy farmer, was invited to the concentration camp as a 'special guest' and was accompanied by his partner Julie Gray - a Californian who moved to Israel in 2012, meeting her lover five years later.
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Taking to Facebook, Gray has slammed the billionaire claiming he was 'unmoved by the experience'.
"I see people posting that Elon was at Auschwitz this time last year - therefore, his recent 'gesture' is not antisemitic. I was there, too. Last year. With Elon," she wrote on Wednesday (January 22).
"I am embarrassed that I have photos of this on my phone. My love, Gidon Lev, was the 'special guest' of this photo-op event. We thought, at the time, that it would be good publicity. But I would not share the photo today.
"I chatted with Elon Musk. I spent hours with him and walked with him through Auschwitz. I stood with him, looking at the nauseating heaps of hair, luggage, and shoes flooded with violet light meant to preserve it."
It came just two days after Musk was accused of making a 'Nazi salute' on two separate occasions while addressing Trump supporters, at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday (January 20).
Musk controversially made the gesture on stage at the inauguration, immediately after saying: "Thank you for making it happen. Thank you, my heart goes out to you."
The billionaire has since denied this was his intention, and other defenders have argued he was doing a Roman salute, or was 'giving his heart to the crowd'.
Gray's post continued: "Is Musk an antisemite? People, actually, it's worse - he doesn't care whatsoever. Elon, father of 'little X' as he described his freezing cold son to me, literally does not care. He was unmoved by the experience.
"For Gidon, to be in the place where his father, Ernst, died on a death march - whether shot by the side of the road or having simply collapsed - was a huge deal.
"Elon did not care. He was about his press junket and his bodyguards. I was ten feet from him as he posed for the cameras of his entourage. He was utterly detached. He cared about how he looked."
Gray's post went on: "When he placed a wreath at Auschwitz and Gidon was overlooked, he walked away with the cameras whirring.
"This is Elon Musk. A sociopath, if ever there was one. To deduce, from this visit, that he is a friend of the Jews is desperately naive."
Meanwhile, just two days ago (January 23), Musk was told off by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which initially let Musk's alleged Nazi salute slide as they claimed it was just an 'awkward gesture'.
CEO of ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, wrote: "We’ve said it hundreds of times before and we will say it again: the Holocaust was a singularly evil event, and it is inappropriate and offensive to make light of it. The Holocaust is not a joke."
Yes, Musk really wrote about the Nazi's in jest. He posted on Twitter: "Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming."
UNILAD has contacted Elon Musk for comment.
Topics: Elon Musk, Social Media, Twitter, News, World News
Joe Yates