Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev, 89, and his wife Julie Gray, 60, have called out Elon Musk for his behaviour during a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp – they said Gidon was used as a ‘prop’
Elon Musk’s inauguration salute projected on Tesla factory in Berlin
A Holocaust survivor has slammed Elon mask after he visited an Auschwitz death camp and acted “uninterested” .
Gidon Lev, 89, who was at the SS-run Theresienstadt ghetto in the Czech Republic, was left unimpressed by the tech tycoon. He has decided to speak out following the latest criticism against Musk over how he tackles antisemitic posts on Twitter (X).
The pensioner, from California, US, has recalled what it was like to met the billionaire on the anniversary of the visit. Gidon, who lost 26 family members during the Holocaust, says Musk put on a “performance” during his visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 17, 2024.
Gidon, who is also an author, said: “There was a small group, a couple of rabbis, and the person who directed the tour. They constantly wanted me to be very close to Musk, but I had no chance to speak with him on a personal basis. From time to time when the guide said something, I commented, but that was my participation.
“But it was a little bit strange. Also, Musk came with his son, X, a three-year-old boy, on his shoulders. You have a Holocaust survivor, who still can speak to you and discuss things, and you could ask questions, but he did not. At one place there are huge piles of suitcases, old suitcases from the Holocaust.
“It reminded me immediately of the suitcase that I used in the concentration camp to steal potatoes. I was going to say something, but I couldn’t get his attention or anybody’s attention. They’re all here, the suitcases, the shoes.” He said people are “fooling themselves” if they think Musk cares about Jewish people just because he went to the gathering.
“If he comes across as being a friend of the Jews, well, it’s not bad for his business,” he said. “It’s not bad for him”. Gidon’s wife Julie Gray, 60, who was also part of the tour group, and co-authored her husband’s memoir, added: “He brought his son through the gas chamber. That was weird. It was very cold.”
Julie said Musk didn’t take advantage of being in a Holocaust survivor’s presence. “He didn’t take the opportunity to be human with another human and say, ‘My God, your father died here, and your grandparents and your aunt and your uncle’,” she said. “My husband was a prop and Musk just didn’t give a shit. I was heartbroken by his behaviour.” Julie said her husband “sacrificed his emotional and physical wellbeing” to go back there with Musk. “That’s why I, in particular, was stunned at his treatment while he was there,” she said.
“At the end of the tour, Musk and Ben Shapiro were given a wreath to lay down at this one part of Auschwitz,” Julie recalled. “They laid down these big beautiful wreaths, and with the cameras whirring, they walked away. Gidon stood there in the cold. Nobody got him a wreath. And neither Shapiro nor Musk turned around and noticed. They simply carried on.”
But despite their criticism, neither Gidon nor Julie believe Musk is anti-Semitic. They also believe that he didn’t display a Nazi salute after the Trump inauguration. Julie said: “I just don’t think he cares at all. I think he’s just a giant childlike troll. He doesn’t care who he harms.” Gidon said: “My impression – and I paid attention – was that it was like he was in a football match [where] people go with their fists up.
“Like, ‘Oh, look what I did. Look at the goal, looks like I got that one inside the line’. It’s easy to interpret it and make it as a salute.” Gidon arrived at the Theresienstadt Nazi concentration camp at the age of six, in 1941, and remained there until he was ten. Only Gidon and his mother survived, in his family and he went on to have six children. Gidon, a former dairy farmer, also served in the Israel Defense Forces, guarding Mount Scopus in 1962 and participating in combat during both the Six-Day War and the War of Attrition.
But his time as a boy in the Holocaust still haunts him. He now lives in Israel, and co-authored ‘Let’s Make Things Better’, about his life, which has been translated into five languages. A documentary called ‘Follow Me’ about Gidon’s life is in the works, featuring Sharon Stone, he said.
On January 27, 2024, Musk visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau site with Ben Shapiro, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the founder and head of the European Jewish Association, alongside Gidon and Julie. Ben Shapiro challenged Musk to attend after the SpaceX founder seemingly posted anti-Semitic messages on social media.