Tourists investigated for Nazi salute at Auschwitz
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- Published on Wednesday, 23 May 2012 20:31
Deputy district prosecutor for the region Mariusz Slomka has informed the Polish Press Agency that the incident took place at the beginning of May.
As was recorded on security cameras, the two tourists performed the Nazi salute beneath the notorious 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (Work Makes You Free) inscription that crowns the entrance gate to the former death camp.
Two security guards witnessed the gesture, and promptly expelled the pair from the premises having taken down the tourists' details.
In Poland, the propagation of fascism can be punished with a two-year prison sentence. The tourists may also be charged with denigrating a historical place.
It has been estimated that at least 1.1 million people – the majority of them of Jewish descent - died in the combined Nazi German death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau.