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California governor candidate calls Auschwitz 'solution for homelessness,' sparks critisism
California governor candidate calls Auschwitz 'solution for homelessness,' sparks critisism

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

California governor candidate calls Auschwitz 'solution for homelessness,' sparks critisism

California's candidate Langford said he was proud of his "German ancestry" and called Auschwitz a "great work camp," sparking controversy. The Auschwitz Memorial Museum slammed Kyle Langford, Republican candidate for Governor of California, after his antisemitic remarks, calling out his actions as a 'profound moral failure.' 'The instrumentalization of the tragedy of all those imprisoned and murdered in the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz for political messaging is a profound moral failure,' said the official Auschwitz Memorial Museum. 'Auschwitz is not a prop. Kyle Langford, your post is an affront to the dignity of the victims and a disturbing display of insensitivity and disregard for the horrifying human history.' Langford, who is currently the leading Republican candidate in California, published a photo of himself at the entrance of Auschwitz with a text that said: 'My 0% unemployment plan.' He also doubled down after being called out by the memorial museum, posting a message that said his 'German ancestors smile upon him' and thanked the organization for a 'shoutout.' A candidate with nothing to lose Langford's comments came as he aims to secure a spot as one of the two candidates to fight for the California governor, where he faces low chances of competing due to the nonpartisan top-two primaries system and the heavy advantage that Democrats have in the state. That allowed him to focus on a campaign centered around explosive comments, with antisemitism being one of his main points when trying to show himself as 'disruptive.' His comments on Auschwitz came as a 'solution' to the homelessness and unemployment crisis in California, while he also called the death camp a 'beautiful work camp.' Solve the daily Crossword

Life in Germany's Largest Jewish Retirement Home – DW – 07/24/2025
Life in Germany's Largest Jewish Retirement Home – DW – 07/24/2025

DW

time5 days ago

  • General
  • DW

Life in Germany's Largest Jewish Retirement Home – DW – 07/24/2025

The largest Jewish retirement and nursing home in Germany is in Frankfurt am Main. People who survived the Holocaust and yet decided to grow old in the land of the perpetrators still live here, today. This is a place where moving life stories come together: of flight, survival and the desire to grow old with dignity. Today, the retirement home is home to more than 170 people, around three quarters of whom are Jewish. There is also a daytime care program, which is open to senior citizens from outside the home. It offers social contact, activities and moments of joie de vivre. 92-year-old Eva Szepesi, born in Budapest, survived Auschwitz as a child and lost her entire family. Today she tells her story in schools. Despite her traumatic experiences, she has lived in Frankfurt for decades and now visits the home every week during the day. "I didn't even want to come to Germany,' she says. Like her, many residents have been brought here by fate. Twenty refugees from Ukraine, such as Bella Kiselova and her daughter Marina, have also found shelter here. Today, the home has grown into an intercultural community, characterized by many nationalities and non-Jewish employees. It is a place that offers security, in times when anti-Semitism is on the rise again worldwide. The community also provides support: through maintaining traditions, hosting celebrations, observing the weekly Sabbath and providing space for commemorating together. The documentary sensitively accompanies Jewish and refugee people as they go about their everyday lives at the home. It also paints a picture of a place that is characterized by pain, hope, humor and joie de vivre. DW English SUN 10.08.2025 – 00:02 UTC SUN 10.08.2025 – 03:30 UTC SUN 10.08.2025 – 14:30 UTC MON 11.08.2025 – 01:16 UTC MON 11.08.2025 – 05:02 UTC MON 11.08.2025 – 22:30 UTC TUE 12.08.2025 – 07:30 UTC WED 13.08.2025 – 18:30 UTC Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 Delhi UTC +5,5 | Bangkok UTC +7 | Hong Kong UTC +8 London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +3 San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4

How influencers are getting clicks by sharing AI-generated, fake images of the Holocaust
How influencers are getting clicks by sharing AI-generated, fake images of the Holocaust

France 24

time17-07-2025

  • Entertainment
  • France 24

How influencers are getting clicks by sharing AI-generated, fake images of the Holocaust

Social media users have been circulating an image since early July that they say is a photo of a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp, where a million Jewish people were exterminated during World War II. The photo is said to show a man named Henek, a violinist who was forced to play in the camp's orchestra. "His role: to play music as fellow prisoners were led to the gas chambers,' reads one caption by a Facebook user. A video featuring the image of Henek was also widely shared on Facebook. A photo and video that were generated by AI However, as the team working at Poland's Auschwitz Memorial wrote on X on July 6, the photo is false – it was AI-generated. The museum calls the post a 'dangerous distortion' and adds that 'such fabrication disrespects victims and harasses their memory'. There are anomalies in both the photos and the video that are common in AI-generated images. If you increase the luminosity of the image to better see the details, one of the prisoners seems to be missing eyeballs. In the video, the hands of another prisoner appeared to be fused together. A story that is fake 'from A to Z' Aside from the visual anomalies, the photo and video, which are supposed to document the story of a violinist who played for prisoners sent to gas chambers, aren't credible from a historical point of view. "This story is fake from A to Z and for a very simple reason: people sent to the gas chambers were not serenaded by an orchestra,' Tal Bruttmann, a historian specialising in the history of Auschwitz, told the FRANCE 24 Observers team. 'The camp orchestras were generally playing march music when columns of prisoners were marching to work and returning to the camp,' the Auschwitz Memorial told our team. 'They were not playing for Jews who were murdered in gas chambers immediately after arrival selection.' The scene depicted in the photo also doesn't make sense, Bruttmann said. "To see a guy with a violin standing in the middle of a group of prisoners is ridiculous,' he told us. 'If you look at photos of the Auschwitz orchestra, you can see how they were [truly] organised.' Drawings of the Auschwitz orchestra made by camp prisoners show that the musicians were always in a group, under the supervision of guards. As camp life was highly controlled, it is very unlikely that one solo violinist would appear without the rest of the orchestra, which is what is shown in the photo and video that have been circulating online. Another thing that doesn't make sense in the AI-generated image is what the prisoners are wearing. "It doesn't correspond with the prisoner's uniform,' Bruttmann said. 'If you look at the photos that were taken in Auschwitz by the SS, you'll see that people didn't go around shirtless [Editor's note: like the man in the picture]. In a concentration camp, if you were shirtless, you were beaten or whipped.' Moreover, the man in the image shared online isn't wearing the striped uniform that most prisoners wore. The Auschwitz Memorial added that prisoners didn't wear belts like those in the AI-generated image. A worrying trend of AI-generated fake images of the Holocaust Representatives from the Auschwitz Memorial told our team about a growing – and worrying – online trend involving the use of AI to produce fake posts and stories about the Holocaust. In a post published on Facebook on June 8, the Memorial warned people to stay vigilant about pages appearing to share 'emotional tributes to Holocaust victims' that look like the posts shared by the museum. 'While some pages simply copy our posts, we can see more and more posts that either add AI-generated photos or are entirely fabricated,' the Memorial wrote in their post. The Memorial added that the posts featuring AI-generated images are 'dangerous distortions' of history that 'contribute to confusion and the erosion of historical accuracy'. They added that the stories accompanying these AI-generated images are often entirely fabricated, and that AI is used to generate fake photos not sourced from archives. "They exploit Holocaust memory for clicks, shares, and reach,' the Memorial said.

Former Colchester mayor made 'Auschwitz' post about migrants
Former Colchester mayor made 'Auschwitz' post about migrants

BBC News

time16-07-2025

  • Politics
  • BBC News

Former Colchester mayor made 'Auschwitz' post about migrants

A former mayor of Colchester has admitted posting on social media that "we need to create an Auschwitz camp minus the ovens to house illegals".Gerard Oxford, who said he deleted the post about 20 minutes later, told the BBC: "I am sorry that I made the post now."I regret using the word 'Auschwitz'. I should have just said 'detention camp'."Former MP for Colchester Sir Bob Russell said: "I'm flabbergasted. I know Gerard well. This is completely out of character. That is not the comment of the Gerard Oxford I know." Oxford said: "I've been suggesting for some time we should create detention camps in this country."Sir Bob, a Liberal Democrat who has known Oxford for years, added: "That's not the language we should expect in a democratic society under any circumstances. We all know what Auschwitz was, and to use that word is just not acceptable."Oxford was mayor of Colchester in 2017. Originally a Lib Dem, he left the party two decades ago and was an independent quit Colchester City Council in 2022 after a dispute over disability access at the town insisted he was not antisemitic and added: "I find it more offensive when I [see] Palestine Action marching every week. I call that antisemitic." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

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