Holocaust Survivor Gives Powerful Message About Sean Spicer's 'Ignorant' Remarks

A survivor of the Holocaust spoke out against White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who made some dumb comments about Adolf Hitler.

Spicer was hosting his regular press conference on Tuesday when he made a very bad and false comparison.

He was asked about President Donald Trump's decision to launch an air strike against Syria. Trump made this decision following a chemical attack made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which killed many civilians, including children.

During the conference, Spicer made a terrible comparison of Assad to Hitler.

Spicer said,

We didn't use chemical weapons in WWII. We had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons.

So what we have here is Spicer kind of saying Hitler wasn't that bad (when you compare him to Assad).

This obviously had a lot of people angry. Aside from that implication, Spicer's comments were also just false.

Nazis used chemical weapons during World War II, targeting Jewish people. They were used most infamously in the concentration camp gas chambers, which could kill hundreds of people at once.

Spicer has since apologized several times over.

But many are still shocked and disgusted by Spicer's comments, including Holocaust survivors.

Roman Kent, who was born in Poland and survived the Auschwitz, Mertzbachtal, Dornau and Flossenburg concentration camps during the 1940s, spoke to Mic about his reaction to Spicer's comments.

During one of Spicer's apologies, Spicer said, "anybody can make a mistake."

"I agree with that," Kent said. "Anybody can make a mistake. But that's not a mistake. That's an ignorance, a complete and total ignorance of the most important issue that prevailed during that last war from which so many millions of people died."

Kent went on to say,

To have a person ignorant like this at the helm of our government -- because press secretary is very important -- it's tragic. It's not a mistake; it's a tragedy.

Kent reminded Spicer of the tens of thousands killed at concentration camps every day.

"As far as I am concerned, a man so ignorant should not be our representative," Kent said. "Ignorance is not an excuse, not from a man like this, on a high position like this."

This is far from the first time the Trump administration has offended the Jewish community. The White House's memo on International Holocaust Remembrance Day left out the word "Jewish," and Trump's campaign was linked to a rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacks.

Citations: This Holocaust survivor has a powerful message for Sean Spicer (Mic)