Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., wanted to make a point for why the U.S. needs a strong military. But officials at the Auschwitz Memorial are upset with the way he used a concentration camp to do it.
A video taken by and featuring Higgins walking around the Auschwitz Memorial was posted on Saturday by a conservative podcast. In it, Higgins walks around the former concentration camp, including the gas chambers, talking about how the people there were inhumanely murdered by the Nazis and saying, “this is why homeland security must be squared away, why our military must be invincible.” The video is about five minutes long.
“A great sense of dread comes over you in this place,” Higgins said in a low voice, with a violin solo playing in the background. “Man’s inhumanity to man can be quite shocking.”
Higgins is a former law enforcement officer and now serves on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
“It’s hard to walk away from the 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 at the end of the video.
The Auschwitz Memorial took to Twitter to criticize the video on Tuesday, not over its message, but at Higgins’ choice of backdrop.