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06th Oct 2021

Anti-Semitic graffiti found at Auschwitz death camp

Charlie Herbert

The act has been described as ‘outrageous.’

The organisation that runs the Auschwitz-Birkenau II death camp has said that anti-Semitic graffiti has appeared at the site.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial, which preserves the site of the Holocaust camp in Poland, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon (October 5) condemning the graffiti as “an outrageous attack on the symbol of one of the greatest tragedies in human history.”

More than 1.1 million people were killed in gas chambers or died from starvation, illness and cold at the extermination camp, which was set up by the Nazis during the second World War.

The vast majority of those who died at the camp were Jews, along with thousands of others who belonged to minority groups such as the Roma people and ethnic Poles.

In the statement, the Memorial said that the graffiti included statements in English and German, along with two references to sayings in the Old Testament which are frequently used by anti-Semites.

The statement reads: “An offence against the Memorial Site – is above all, an outrageous attack on the symbol of one of the greatest tragedies in human history and an extremely painful blow to the memory of all the victims of the German Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.”

Police are now analysing and reviewing video footage of the incident and are putting together documentation.

The Auschwitz Museum said it would remove the graffiti once the police had finished gathering information and evidence.

The organisation is appealing for any witnesses or potential information about the crime to contact security@auschwitz.org.

In 2010, a Swedish man was jailed for two years and eight months after being found guilty of planning to steal the infamous “Arbeit macht frei” sign that hangs over the entrance to the camp.

And earlier this year, the wall of a Jewish cemetery near the camp was defaced with swastikas and other Nazi symbols.

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