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US lawmaker apologizes for his video shot at Auschwitz
A US congressman apologised Wednesday for recording a video while visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
Clay Higgins, a first-term House Republican and former police officer, produced an edited, five-minute video of himself touring parts of the Nazi-era camp and narrating in
“The guards would drop
“It’s hard to walk away from gas chambers and ovens without a very sober feeling of commitment, unwavering commitment, to make damn sure that the United States of America is protected from the evils of the world,” Higgins said.
The video was
The Auschwitz Memorial tweeted a stern objection: “Everyone has the right to personal reflections. However, inside a former gas chamber, there should be mournful silence. It’s not a stage.”
Higgins said he filmed the “Auschwitz message with great humility” and in “reverent homage” to the estimated 1.1 million people murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
“However, my message has caused pain to some whom I love and respect. For that, my own heart feels sorrow,” he said, offering a “sincere apology” and announcing his video has been removed.
Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, called the video “disgusting beyond description.”
“He never refers specifically to
It is not the first time Higgins, from Louisiana, has courted controversy.
In June, following deadly terror strikes in London, he said
“For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all,” he said on Facebook. DM
