Poland to deport foreigner who performed Nazi salute at Auschwitz Museum

Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland will deport a Colombian citizen who performed a Nazi salute during his visit to the former German-Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. He is banned from re-entering Poland and the Schengen area for five years.

The 34-year-old was charged with promoting Nazism, an offence carrying a maximum sentence of three years in prison, and desecration of a memorial site.

“A place that symbolises one of the greatest tragedies in human history requires special respect, and insulting it does not go without consequences,” said the border guard.

Police in Oświęcim, the town where the museum is located, said in mid-July that they had detained a man after being notified by museum guards of a possible offence.

A police probe found that the man, who had been living and working in the Wielkopolska province, had “posed for a photo making the Nazi salute” at the museum while visiting it.

Prosecutors were informed of the case, police said, adding that the man was subsequently charged with two crimes: public promotion of Nazism and the desecration of a memorial site.

He admitted to the offences and voluntarily submitted to his punishment, which consisted of a 2,000 zloty (€464) fine along with a decision for his verdict to be made public, they added.

He was then handed over to Poland’s border guard, which decided to deport him and ban him from entering Poland and other Schengen countries for five years.

The border guard said that the decision was “immediately enforceable”, and was based on “considerations of security and public order as well as the interests of the Republic of Poland.”

It also noted that a court decided to place the man in a facility for foreigners in the city of Przemyśl, where he will await deportation.

The Auschwitz Museum has in recent years dealt with various cases of visitors misbehaving, including in ways that are punishable by law.

Earlier this month, prosecutors in Poland indicted an Iranian-born German citizen for making statements denying the Holocaust during a tour of Auschwitz.

In 2025, an Israeli teenager who was seen doing a fascist salute at the former German-Nazi camp was fined for propagating Nazism.

Auschwitz was first set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland in 1940 during World War Two as a camp to house Polish “political” prisoners, before later becoming primarily a site for the murder of Jews.

At least 1.3 million victims were transported there, with at least 1.1 million of them killed at the camp. Around one million of those victims were Jews. The second largest group of victims – around 70,000 people – were ethnic Poles.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Straż Graniczna

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.