Elon Musk and Ben Shapiro visit Auschwitz, discuss rise in antisemitism

Elon Musk visited the site of the largest Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday with conservative Orthodox Jewish commentator Ben Shapiro.

The billionaire entrepreneur spoke later in the day in Krakow, Poland, at a European Jewish Association conference on combating antisemitism, which has been on the rise, including on Musk's platform X, formerly Twitter, since Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250 others. 

"If there had been social media, I think it would have been impossible to hide [the Holocaust]. If there had been freedom of speech as well," Musk told Shapiro during an on-stage interview at the conference. 

As he wore a dog tag necklace to remember those taken hostage on Oct. 7, Musk also spoke about his reaction to the Oct. 7 attack. 

"I think maybe the most shocking thing to see was the delight in killing innocent people, the delight in killing kids, and defenseless women and men. There was no remorse, quite the opposite. That requires a level of indoctrination that was extremely intense," he said. 

Musk also addressed the rise in antisemitism after the Oct. 7 attacks.

"I must admit to being somewhat frankly naive about this. In the circles that I move, I see almost no antisemitism. ... Two-thirds of my friends are Jewish," he said. "Looking at the pro-Hamas rallies that took place in almost every major city in the West blew my mind."

However, some online responded to the trip with comments denying the Holocaust, in which 6 million people were killed by the Nazis. 

"Elon Musk and Ben Shapiro are in Auschwitz, a town that allegedly witnessed genocide in the 20th century," the page Stop Zionist Hate wrote on X in a since-deleted post. "@elonmusk, do you have any plans to visit Gaza to see the genocide happening right now?"

Two other users, one with more than a million followers and another with over 500,000 followers, called the visit "disgusting."

Musk in November 2023 endorsed a social media post considered anti-semitic. He apologized for the post at a public event and visited Israel later that month, following the Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the start a month earlier of the Israel-Hamas war. 

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.