Auschwitz survivor says he was alarmed by Elon Musk’s gesture at Trump event

By Canadian Press on January 24, 2025.

OTTAWA — David Moscovic, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor, says it’s scary to see things he never thought he would see again — such as a powerful man like Elon Musk using a “German salute.”

Moscovic, who lives in Ottawa, is referring to the tech mogul making a straight-arm gesture similar to a Nazi salute as he addressed the crowd assembled for U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration event on Monday.

Musk says it was a gesture meant to convey to the crowd that his heart “goes out” to them.

The Anti-Defamation League, an American Jewish advocacy organization, said Monday that Musk seemed to have made an “awkward gesture” and not a Nazi salute.

On Thursday, responding to the controversy, Musk posted a series of Nazi puns on X, the social media platform he owns.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt condemned the posts, saying the Holocaust was a “singularly evil event” and “not a joke.”

Moscovic joined other speakers in Ottawa on Friday at an event to commemorate the upcoming 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most infamous Nazi death camps.

Moscovic was taken to Auschwitz when he was just 14 with his mother, father and brother. He’s the only one of the family who survived.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2025.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press