Tourist arrested at Auschwitz for making a Nazi salute
A Dutch woman was arrested on Sunday at the site of the Auschwitz death camp after she made a Nazi salute while posing for a picture.
Police said the 29-year-old tourist was standing in front of the gate that says "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Sets You Free," when she made the salute. Auschwitz is in Poland, where people who promote Nazi propaganda can receive up to two years in prison, and a security guard detained the woman until police arrived.
The woman and her husband were questioned by officers, and she told them making the gesture was "a stupid joke," the Auschwitz Museum tweeted. She has been fined an undisclosed amount.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Auschwitz was the largest Nazi death camp, and at least 1.1 million people — most of them Jewish — died there, with many immediately gassed upon their arrival and others dying after working hard labor in deplorable conditions. The "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate is one of the most well-known parts of Auschwitz, and this wasn't the first time someone was arrested for making the Nazi salute there; in 2013, two Turkish students made the gesture at the gate, and were fined and sentenced to six months in prison, the Polish News Agency reports.
-
Claudette Colvin: teenage activist who paved the way for Rosa ParksIn The Spotlight Inspired by the example of 19th century abolitionists, 15-year-old Colvin refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus
-
5 contentious cartoons about Donald Trump at DavosCartoons Artists take on weaponized tariffs, a cheeky offering, and more
-
Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ comes into confounding focusIn the Spotlight What began as a plan to redevelop the Gaza Strip is quickly emerging as a new lever of global power for a president intent on upending the standing world order
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
-
Iran’s government rocked by protestsSpeed Read The death toll from protests sparked by the collapse of Iran’s currency has reached at least 19
-
Israel approves new West Bank settlementsSpeed Read The ‘Israeli onslaught has all but vanquished a free Palestinian existence in the West Bank’
-
US offers Ukraine NATO-like security pact, with caveatsSpeed Read The Trump administration has offered Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive from NATO
