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Antisemitic Graffiti Discovered at Auschwitz

The railway tracks leading to the main gates at Auschwitz II - Birkenau, in a photo taken in December 2004. Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images​

Antisemitic graffiti and slogans denying the Holocaust have been discovered at the site of the Auschwitz death camp.

Staff at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial discovered signs of vandalism at the Auschwitz-Birkenau site in Poland on Tuesday, including spray-painted “offensive slogans” in English and German, and references to the Old Testament.

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The incident has been reported to the police, and video surveillance is being analysed.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps in the Second World War. More than 1.1 million men, women and children died at the camp, including 960,000 Jews.

“We hope that the person or persons who committed this outrageous act will be found and punished,” the organisation said. “We also appeal to anyone who may have witnessed the incident to send any information that may help in finding the offenders–especially photographs taken on October 5 before noon in the vicinity of the Gate of Death and the section of the men’s quarantine Blla, where the wooden barracks are located.”

“As soon as the police have compiled all the necessary documentation, the conservators of the Auschwitz Memorial will begin removing traces of vandalism from the historical buildings,” the museum’s statement added.

Dani Dayan, chair of World Holocaust Remembrance Centre Yad Vashem, said: “We are very saddened by the attack on Auschwitz, the authentic location where over a million Jews were murdered, and strongly condemn the willful vandalism of the barracks there with antisemitic and Holocaust denial inscriptions.”

“This incident, at such a major and significant site of the atrocities of the Holocaust, constitutes an attack not only on the memory of the victims but also on the survivors and any person with a conscience,” he said. “It is also yet another painful reminder that more must be done to raise awareness about the Holocaust and to educate the public and the younger generation regarding the dangers of antisemitism and Holocaust denial and distortion.”

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial is encouraging those with any relevant information or images to contact security@auschwitz.org.