A gesture associated with the Nazis has a surprising history. But in Germany, there was little doubt about its meaning.

Musk then slapped his chest with his right hand, before flinging it diagonally upwards, palm face down. He turned around to audience members behind the podium, and repeated the gesture. “My heart goes out to you,

Michel Friedman, a former deputy chair of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, whose family perished in Poland during the Holocaust, told the Guardian that the salute was a “disgrace” and said Musk was taking America to a “dangerous point for the entire free world.”