Louisiana congressman, Clay Higgins, posted a video on July 1st from a gas chamber at the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland.
"They could murder 2,000 people at a time," Higgins said in the video. "Great sense of dread comes over you in this place."
"This is why homeland security must be squared away, why our military must be invincible"said Higgins, who is on the House Homeland Security Committee.
On Wednesday he removed the video from YouTube and apologized by saying that his "intent was to offer a reverent homage to those who were murdered in Auschwitz and to remind the world that evil still exists, that free nations must remember and stand strong. However, my message has caused pain to some whom I love and respect. For that, my own heart feels sorrow."
The Auschwitz Museum tweeted a response on Tuesday saying that the former gas chamber is not a stage. They also tweeted a photo of a sign in the museum that asks people to remain in silent reflection out of respect to the thousands of people murdered by the SS.
The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, which addresses civil and human rights issues in the US pointed out that Higgins fails to mention "Jews" or "the Holocaust" during his five-minute video.
The Center's executive director released an explanation on why they rejected the congressman's apology, "How on earth can anyone, let alone a United States Congressman, produce a five minute video at Auschwitz, filled with planned-out edits, music and graphics, that ignores the role of Auschwitz in the deaths of one million Jewish people."