A 29-year-old woman has been arrested in Poland after making a Nazi salute at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
The woman from the Netherlands was arrested while making the salute at the entrance to the death camp under the infamous gates marked 'Arbeit Mach Frei' or 'work makes you free'.
The woman was arrested and later charged with spreading Nazi propaganda, a crime in Poland and most other European countries. She received a fine and was then released.
A spokesperson for the police said the woman stated she was only carrying out a very bad joke and was not a Nazi sympathiser. Such offences can lead to up to 2 years in prison.
In a post, the local police said:
"The tourist had been performing the Hitler salute in front of the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (Work Sets You Free) gate. Officers from (the southern city of) Oswiecim detained a 29-year-old woman from the Netherlands today. The detainee was charged with engaging in Nazi propaganda. She confessed. The detainee was charged with promoting Nazism. The woman confessed. Such offence is punishable by a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to two years."
Over recent months, the organisation that runs the Auschwitz camp as a memorial to the more than 1 million people who were murdered there, mostly Jews, has made a series of public statements against anti-vaxxers who have compared their own treatment to that of Jews under Nazism.
Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson was one of those who attempted to use the Holocaust as a reference for recent events. He shared a photograph of a health card issued by the Nazis and tweeted:
"This has been done before. #DoNotComply."
This has been done before. #DoNotComply https://t.co/6rnI83Ioga pic.twitter.com/pHeeNPVhlP
— Warren Davidson (@WarrenDavidson) January 12, 2022
Later adding:
"Let's recall that the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people before segregating them, segregated them before imprisoning them, imprisoned them before enslaving them, and enslaved them before massacring them."
A spokesperson from the Auschwitz centre replied:
"Exploiting of the tragedy of all people who between 1933-45 suffered, were humiliated, tortured and murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany in a debate about vaccines and Covid limitations in the time of global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decay."
[Based on reporting by: LADBIBLE]
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