Police investigating ‘incident’ at Auschwitz museum

The incident happened on Friday afternoon, a statement issued by the museum said.

“On 24 March, 2017 around 2:00 pm at the `Arbeit macht frei' [sign] at the site of the former Auschwitz I camp, a group of people killed a sheep, undressed and chained themselves together,” the statement read.

“At the car park near the entrance to the Museum a [firework] was launched,” the museum tweeted.

The PAP news agency quoted unofficial sources as saying that the group of people included Belarusians, Poles and Germans. They were allegedly protesting against the war in eastern Ukraine.

“The Museum Security immediately intervened, the area was secured and the police was called in,” the statement continued, adding that authorities are investigating the case.

The museum said it would be submitting a notice about this incident to the prosecutor's office.

“Using the symbol of Auschwitz to any kind of manifestations or happenings is outrageous and unacceptable. It is disrespectful to the memory of all the victims of the German Nazi Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp,” the museum said.

Around 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, as well as non-Jewish Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet POWs and people of many other nationalities, perished at Auschwitz at the hands of the German Nazis occupying Poland during World War II. (rg)