New York, NY, August 2, 2012 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed concern at a statement made by U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) suggesting that American and Iraqi leaders have sent refugees to camps near Baghdad that are comparable to Auschwitz.

During discussions with other Members about Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty near Baghdad, Rep. Rohrabacher reportedly pointed to a photograph of Camp Liberty and said, "Doesn't that look like Auschwitz? This looks like a concentration camp. We have sent people to a concentration camp."

"It is inappropriate to suggest that conditions at a refugee camp in Iraq are in any way similar to the circumstances of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz where millions of Jews and others were murdered during the Holocaust," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor. "Such comparisons only serve to trivialize the memory of the Holocaust and the murderous deeds of the Nazis."

In a letter to Rep. Rohrabacher, ADL called on him to reconsider this inappropriate analogy to Auschwitz and retract his remarks.