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An Israeli teenager who was seen doing a fascist salute at the former German-Nazi camp of Auschwitz has been has been fined for propagating Nazism, a crime in Poland punishable by up to three years in prison.
A spokeswoman for police in Oświęcim, the Polish town where the Auschwitz camp was established by the German occupiers during World War Two, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that a museum guard noticed the boy, aged 17, performing the gesture on Sunday.
He did it in front of the camp’s gate, above which are the infamous words Arbeit Macht Frei, meaning “work sets you free” in German. The teenager was then detained and handed over to police, who in turn notified prosecutors.
Nastoletni Izraelczyk wykonywał hitlerowski salut w byłym KL Auschwitz#PAPinformacje https://t.co/ziCShSb06e
— PAP (@PAPinformacje) March 10, 2025
“The police collected evidence confirming the teenager’s behavior…[and] he was charged with propagating Nazism” said the spokeswoman, Małgorzata Jurecka. That crime is punishable by a fine, community service or even imprisonment of up to three years.
“The teenager admitted to the act he was accused of and voluntarily submitted to the punishment. A fine was imposed on him,” she added, without revealing the amount.
In a statement cited by news website Ynet, Israel’s education ministry said that the boy’s “behavior is entirely unacceptable, contradicts the values of Israeli education, and undermines the significance of the trip to Poland”. It added that he would face disciplinary measures upon his return.
In 2022, a Dutch woman was also fined for doing a fascist salute at Auschwitz, which she later said had been a “silly joke” while posing for a photo. In 2018, another Israeli teenager was fined after being caught urinating on a memorial commemorating victims of the camp.
Auschwitz was originally set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland in 1940 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, most of whom were murdered in gas chambers immediately after their arrival. The second largest group of victims were ethnic Poles.
The camp was liberated by the advancing Soviet Red Army in January 1945 and, two years later, following the end of the war, a Polish state museum was established there. Last year it received over 1.8 million visitors, including many from Israel.
Last year, a diplomatic dispute broke out between Israel and Poland after a Polish official suggested \ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he attended the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation. Eventually, the Polish government guaranteed Netanyahu safe passage, though he chose not to attend.
Poland has confirmed it will not comply with an ICC warrant to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he attends the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
"No representative of Israel will be detained" if they attend the ceremony, says @donaldtusk https://t.co/X46WjSH1DT
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 9, 2025
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: Bibi595/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
