US billionaire Elon Musk visited the museum of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau on Monday, weeks after he caused a storm with conspiracy-mongering and anti-Semitic comments, AFP reported.

Musk was also scheduled to speak at a roundtable conference in Krakow shortly before the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Earlier in the morning, Musk gave a private tour of the site of a death camp built by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland between 1940 and 1945, where one million European Jews and more than 100,000 non-Jews were exterminated.

The conference, organized by the European Jewish Association (EJA), came after Musk responded to a tweet in November in which he claimed Jews were promoting “white hatred”, before apologizing, writing: “You were telling the truth”.

The owner of Tesla and SpaceX has also been accused of allowing hate speech to spread on X (formerly Twitter) after buying the platform for $44 billion in October 2022.

Top European politicians and Elon Musk met in Krakow to “discuss and find solutions to the astronomical rise in anti-Semitism in Europe,” according to EJA, which said the “alarming trend” had intensified since the start of the Gaza war. .

He wants to be a Jew / “The absurdity of being accused”

During a live chat on X in September, EJA President Rabbi Menachem Margolin invited Musk to visit the former Auschwitz camp.

According to Margolin, if Elon Musk were to speak out after the visit, it would be a “very powerful statement” that “could go a long way toward raising awareness of the Holocaust and fighting anti-Semitism.”

Musk agreed that it could be “useful” as an “example for others.” During the discussion, Musk explained that he aspires to be Jewish and said he attends a Jewish preschool.

“It’s absurd to be accused of something when all the evidence points to the contrary and the story of my life is actually pro-Semitic,” he added at the time.

Musk has threatened legal action against the Anti-Semitic League (ADL), an anti-Semitic group that reported a significant increase in misinformation, homophobic and racist slurs on X after the moderation rules were changed with the arrival of Elon Musk.

And X sued Media Matters, accusing the nonprofit of scaring off advertisers by claiming the platform is saturated with anti-Semitic content.

Musk, “who plays a huge role”

In November, the White House accused Musk of “degrading propaganda of anti-Semitic and racist hatred” when he described as “the absolute truth” a post on X that claimed Jews were promoting “white hatred.”

Musk’s announcement sparked an avalanche of rejection of X among major advertisers.

The billionaire later apologized for what he called “the worst, stupidest post I’ve ever made.” He said his remark was misinterpreted and tried to explain it in subsequent posts.

After the controversy, the SpaceX founder traveled to Israel, although he said the trip was planned in advance and was not an “apology tour.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told him he would play a “big role” in the fight against anti-Semitism.