Auschwitz Museum Authorities Have To Ask Visitors Not To Take Disrespectful Selfies

Shocking displays of disrespect at the historical site

Social media is everywhere these days, and amid the never-ending quest for likes and shares and validation, it’s important not to lose our humanity.

Sadly, it seems like there are a large number of people out there who need reminding of this. Last week, organizers at the Auschwitz Museum tweeted a plea for respect, asking visitors to stop posting selfies on the railway tracks leading into the building – yes, the same tracks that transported trainloads of prisoners during World War II.

It really is unbelievable that people would be so disrespectful towards such a solemn site. However, there are obviously enough people doing it to require authorities in charge of the site to address the issue.

“When you come to @AuschwitzMuseum remember you are at the site where over 1 million people were killed. Respect their memory. There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths,” museum officials said in a tweet.

When you come to @AuschwitzMuseum remember you are at the site where over 1 million people were killed. Respect their memory. There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths. pic.twitter.com/TxJk9FgxWl

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

The people who maintain the historical site don’t have a problem with people taking photographs and sharing them on social media – this is to be expected. In fact, social media is important to the museum, which regularly posts photos on its Instagram account, many taken by visitors. What they take issue with is that some of those visitors are showing a complete lack of solemnity and respect.

“One can find both ordinary photographs and the so-called ‘selfies,’ accompanied by a very emotional message, showing that the author of such a photograph knew where he was and such a photograph was intended to commemorate the visit,” Pawel Sawicki, Auschwitz Memorial press representative, told ABC News.

It’s not just social media disrespect that they have had to contend with, either. Recently, a 37-year-old American man has been arrested for attempted theft in Poland, after trying to steal part of the train tracks at the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, according to Polish officials.

Malgorzata Jurecka, a police spokeswoman in the nearby town of Oswiecim told ABC News the man, who is from Texas, was “charged with attempted theft of an item of cultural importance from the Holocaust memorial site.” She added that he originally faced 10 years in prison, “but since he has admitted his guilt, the sentence will be lighter, likely two years on probation.”

Honestly, what must be going through someone’s head for them to even attempt that?

The man, who has not been identified, has been released from police custody, and is allowed to leave the country. He does not need to be in Poland when his case goes to court, but he will have to hire a lawyer to represent him, according to spokeswoman Jurecka.

More than one million people died at the Auschwitz concentration camp, the largest of its kind, during World War II. The victims were mainly Jews, but also included Polish political prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma people, homosexuals, and people with disabilities.

The American tourist who was arrested was part of a larger guided tour group visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, when he was spotted by a woman from another visiting group trying to steal a metal piece of train tracks that Nazi Germans used to unload the prisoners. The woman alerted museum security, who then called the police.

“Unfortunately, these kind of incidents happen from time to time and it’s always terribly emotional to us,” Bartosz Bartyzel, a spokesman at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, which encompasses the sites of the original concentration camp as well as Auschwitz II-Birkenau where Saturday’s incident happened, told ABC News.

There’s nothing wrong with social media in and of itself – I just wish people would be mindful and show a little respect. AAx

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