ReligionDave DriskellDave Driskell crossfitCrossfit

CrossFit Guru Does A Handstand On Holocaust Memorial

"I feel completely terrible as I would never purposely offend or disrespect this memorial had I known."
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By 

Overnight Editor, HuffPost

CrossFit guru Dave Driskell is apologizing after doing a handstand on a Holocaust memorial in Berlin and posting an image of the act on Instagram.

"Hello Berlin, Germany. 15 hour layover. Checking the sites. Drinking the beers. Eating the bratwurst," read the post, which has been deleted but was preserved by several websites, including Buzzfeed.

The image shows Driskell doing a handstand on one of the concrete slabs at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe:

 

The comments section quickly filled with users pointing out that it was a Holocaust memorial. One used the hashtag #inappropriate while another urged him to delete the photo.  

Driskell, who describes himself as an "Inspirer/CrossFit Coach" and "Vagabond/Model," said in a later post that he didn't realize it was a Holocaust memorial, but found it "visually stunning" and wanted to take a picture.

"I feel completely terrible as I would never purposely offend or disrespect this memorial had I known," he wrote on Instagram.  

Driskell said he has been taking handstand photos around the world to help promote fitness. Indeed, his Instagram shows him doing handstands in places ranging from Central Park in New York to Iceland.

He concluded: 

"Again I apologize for this horrible misunderstanding and any offense this might have caused. Anyone who knows me, knows this is the complete opposite of what I would want. I respectfully ask your forgiveness."

 

The incident is reminiscent of one last year in which Danny Green of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs was criticized for taking a selfie at the memorial, using the hashtag #Holocaust.

Green later apologized. 

 

Also on HuffPost:

Holocaust Memorials
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Persons walk through the holocaust memorial in Berlin, on a sunny but cold Monday March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/dpa, Markus Heine) (credit:AP)
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Relatives of Holocaust victims lay flowers next to the names of concentration camps during a ceremony marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) (credit:AP)
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Photo shows the house where Anne Frank lived in Amsterdam and where she hid with her parents to escape from Nazis between June 1942 and August 4, 1944. (DESK/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A woman crouches next to candles lit to commemorate victims among cast iron shoes, a memorial of Holocaust victims on the bank of River Danube, in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. (AP Photo/MTI, Noemi Bruzak) (credit:AP)
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Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, visits the Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Thursday, June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) (credit:AP)
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Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili lays a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Monday, June, 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty) (credit:AP)
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In this picture amde available Wednesday April 17, 2013 a man touches his forehead in front of the Victims' Memorial Wall during a ceremony in the Holocaust Memorial Centre in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 16 2013. (AP Photo/MTI, Tamas Kovacs) (credit:AP)
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Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., center, and Holocaust survivors Inge Berg Katzenstein, right, and her husband, Werner Katzenstein, left, light a memorial candle during a Days of Remembrance ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) (credit:AP)
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U.S. first lady Michelle Obama visits the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin on June 19, 2013. (JOERG CARSTENSEN/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reflects for a moment after placing a wreath from the United States at the Yad Vashem memorial during Holocaust Remembrance Day in Jerusalem, Israel Monday, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Richards, Pool) (credit:AP)
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A person climbs on a Holocaust memorial statue in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) (credit:AP)
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In this picture made available Wednesday April 17, 2013, a woman lights a candle to commemorate victims among cast iron shoes, a memorial of Holocaust victims on the bank of River Danube, in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. (AP Photo/MTI, Noemi Bruzak) (credit:AP)
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Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel lights a candle as he toured the Hall of Remembrance at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, with President Barack Obama, Monday, April 23, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (credit:AP)

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