Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Invited to Tour Auschwitz, Will She Accept?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has decided to repeatedly double down on her absurd comparison of detention centers along the U.S/Mexico border to Nazi concentration camps. Of course, the problem is not just AOC. Liberals in Congress and the media have shamefully swarmed to her defense.

Well, one group is hoping to educate AOC about her ignorant comments. “From The Depths,” a Holocaust remembrance group, has invited her to tour actual concentration camps.

In his letter to Ocasio-Cortez, Jonny Daniels, the founder of From The Depths, wrote, “Congresswoman, the comparison you made recently to the migrant detainment camps on the southern United States border to the German Nazi Concentration Camps, brought a great deal of backlash, we firmly believe that this was not your intention, this was not done out of spite or ill faith, rather a misguided comment, due to a lack of proper education on the Holocaust, a significant issue of our generation.”

Daniels has invited Ocasio-Cortez to tour the Mauthausen, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek concentration camps with 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Edward Mosberg. Daniels explained to her that doing so “will enable you to become a witness of a witness, something that our generation will sadly be the last to do, as result of the fact that the survivors are passing away at an ever-increasing rate.”

As of this writing, From The Depths has not reported that AOC has accepted their invitation. I hope she does, but I do not expect her to. I’ve been to Auschwitz and Majdanek and know what she’ll see there. I went on a Holocaust education trip back in 1998, my senior year of high school. I took a lot of photos, but here are just three that will give some insight into what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would see if she did go.

At Auschwitz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would have an opportunity see actual ovens used to burn dead bodies, like these:

(Photo courtesy of Matt Margolis)

Or displays like this one of the uniforms that Jews who were forced to be there had to wear:

(Photo courtesy of Matt Margolis)

At Majdanek, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would have the opportunity to walk through an actual gas chamber. In gas chambers like these, as many Jews as possible were crammed inside. The blue stains on the walls come from Zyclon-B, the preferred method of gassing prisoners because it only took about ten minutes to kill everyone inside. Carbon Monoxide took about 40 minutes. If you look closely on the concrete walls, you can see scratches from the fingernails of those desperately trying to fight for their lives.

(Photo courtesy of Matt Margolis)

I don’t believe AOC has the courage to accept the invitation. This is actually her second invitation to visit concentration camps this week, so it’s not likely she’ll respond to this one either. For her, the narrative that what’s happening on the border is comparable to Nazi concentration camps is too important to maintain because she thinks it makes an effective attack on Donald Trump. She can’t backtrack now, she has to go all in, no matter how ignorant it makes her look. It’s unfortunate just how many on the left are willing to defend her and diminish what happened during the Holocaust.

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Matt Margolis is the author of the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy, will be published on July 30, 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis