US politician criticised for Auschwitz video

A SENIOR Republican in the US has been criticised by officials at Poland’s Auschwitz-birkenau Memorial and Museum after he posted a video online taken inside a former Nazi death camp gas chamber.

Clay Higgins, who sits in the US House of Representatives for the state of Louisiana, filmed himself and provided a commentary for the footage which was then posted on his website.

In a statement the Auschwitz-birkenau Memorial and Museum said: “Everyone has the right to personal reflections. However, inside a former gas chamber, there should be mournful silence. It’s not a stage.”

In response to Mr Higgins’ video a photograph was also posted of a plaque at Auschwitz that reads: “You are in a building where the SS murdered thousands of people. Please maintain silence here: remember their suffering and show respect for their memory.”

The controversy came as President Donald Trump was about to embark on a two-day visit to Poland, where the former death camp is located.

Mr Higgins, a former police officer and Crime Stoppers host known as “the Cajun John Wayne”, sits on the House homeland security committee. He said in the video: “A great sense of dread comes over you in this place. Man’s inhumanity to man can be quite shocking.”

The politician said his video shows why the US military “must be invincible”. Mr Higgins, who was elected to Congress in December, has yet to respond to the controversy.