Holocaust remembrance group invites Ocasio-Cortez to tour Auschwitz with survivor

A Holocaust commemoration group on Friday invited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to tour the Nazi death camp Auschwitz with a 93-year-old survivor.

Jonny Daniels, the founder of From the Depths, wrote the open invitation to the progressive freshman asking her to participate in the educational tour during her summer recess from Congress.

From the Depths president Edward Mosberg, a Holocaust survivor, would travel with her for the tour, which includes visits to the Auschwitz-Birkenau, Mauthausen and Majdanek concentration camps.{mosads}

More than 20 members of Congress from both political parties have participated on the tour that is specifically designed for legislators, according to the group. 

“The opportunity you will have of visiting the German Nazi Concentration Camps along with Mr. Mosberg, a 93 year old survivor of history’s most brutal genocidal regime, 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,” Daniels wrote in the invitation.

Mosberg is a Polish-born real estate developer in New Jersey who survived several Nazi camps, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Last month, he was awarded the Order of Merit, his country’s highest civilian distinction, from Polish President Andrzej Duda for his work as a philanthropist and educator. 

The offer comes after Ocasio-Cortez faced fierce backlash from Republicans and some Democrats for comparing the Trump administration’s migrant detention centers along the U.S.-Mexico border with Nazi-era concentration camps throughout Europe, where millions of Jews were murdered.

Daniels wrote that the organization did not believe her comments were made “out of spite or ill faith” but rather were “misguided comments” made from lack of proper knowledge about the Holocaust.

“We await your response and look forward to learning together with you about this painful history,” Daniels concluded.

The Hill has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office about the invitation.

The New York Democrat dismissed criticism from “shrieking Republicans” who criticized her comments, saying they did not know the difference between concentration camps and death camps.

“Concentration camps are considered by experts as ‘the mass detention of civilians without trial.’ And that’s exactly what this administration is doing,” she wrote on Tuesday.

Despite the backlash, she said she would “never apologize” for her remarks.

“DHS ripped 1000s of children from their parents & put them in cages w inhumane conditions. They call their cells ‘dog pounds’ & ‘freezers,’” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Wednesday, referring to the Department of Homeland Security.

“I will never apologize for calling these camps what they are. If that makes you uncomfortable, fight the camps – not the nomenclature,” she added.