Elon Musk visits Auschwitz, where a million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany, weeks after endorsing an anti-Semitic post on October 7

X owner Elon Musk was forced to address anti-Semitism online on Monday at an event in Poland where he will be interviewed by conservative activist Ben Shapiro, just weeks after sparking a firestorm by endorsing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

The conference, organized by the European Jewish Association, comes after Musk repeated a tweet about the theory in November, declaring it “real truth” – before apologizing.

Musk hit the city in Poland early Monday on a private jet, before taking a Tesla from the airport.

Auschwitz concentration camp was the place where a million Jewish people were slaughtered by the Nazis. A total of six million Jewish people died during the Second World War.

The tech mogul has also faced allegations of a rise in hate speech on X, formerly Twitter, since his $44 billion acquisition of the social media site in October 2022.

In the wake of Hamas' barbaric attack on Israel on January 7, the platform's widespread anti-Semitism has been highlighted.

Senior political figures from European countries and Musk will meet in Krakow “to discuss and find solutions to the astronomical increases in anti-Semitism affecting Europe,” the European Jewish Association said.

“This disturbing trend” had been escalating since the war in Gaza, the report said.

The conflict erupted when Hamas terrorists launched unprecedented attacks on Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages during the attacks, of whom Israel says about 132 remain in Gaza.

Israel has responded with a brutal bombardment and a ground offensive that has killed at least 25,105 people, mostly women and children, according to Health Ministry figures in Hamas-run Gaza.

Musk was scheduled to speak on a panel at 4 p.m. local time, along with right-wing political commentator Ben Shapiro.

The symposium takes place shortly before the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on January 27, a date that has become Holocaust Memorial Day.

One million European Jews died in the camp built by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland between 1940 and 1945, along with more than 100,000 non-Jews.

The participants of the conference are scheduled to visit the site of the former extermination camp on Tuesday.

– 'Example for others' –

During a live discussion broadcast on X in September, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, president of the European Jewish Association, invited Musk to visit Auschwitz.

Margolin said it would be “a very powerful statement” and “could contribute a lot to Holocaust awareness and the struggle to combat anti-Semitism.”

Musk agreed that it “could be useful… as an example to others.”

Elsewhere in the discussion, Musk described himself as “aspirational Jewish” and said he had attended Hebrew kindergarten.

“It's absurd to be accused of something when all the evidence points the other way and my entire life story is in fact prosemitic,” he added at the time.

Musk has threatened to file suit against the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, over its claims that problematic and racist speech on the site has skyrocketed since his takeover.

X Corp is also currently suing the nonprofit Media Matters on the grounds that it has driven away advertisers by portraying the site as full of anti-Semitic content.

– 'Big role to play' –

In a comment on X in November, Musk called a post “the actual truth” that said Jewish communities advocated a “dialectical hatred of white people.”

The message was criticized as echoing an old conspiracy theory among white supremacists.

Musk's statement set off a groundswell of departures from major advertisers at X, with the White House accusing him of “abhorrent promotion” of anti-Semitism.

The social media titan later apologized for what he called “literally the worst and stupidest post I've ever done.”

He said it had been misinterpreted and that he had tried to clarify the comment in subsequent posts in the thread.

Following the controversy, the SpaceX founder visited Israel but said the trip was previously planned and was not an “apology tour.”

Israel's figurehead President Isaac Herzog told the tech mogul that he “has a big role to play” in the fight against anti-Semitism.

“We have to fight it together because the platforms you lead unfortunately harbor a lot of… anti-Semitism,” Herzog said.