An Israeli high school student was arrested and questioned by police for doing a Nazi salute during a school trip to Auschwitz, Israeli media reported on Sunday.
The teenager from Kiryat Bialik was on his school’s field trip to Poland when he did the gesture under the entrance sign to the camp.
He was questioned for two hours by Polish police and was fined approximately NIS 1,500 after security guards observed him performing the salute. The museum also captured the incident on its security cameras; the footage was handed over to the police.
Polish police charged him with promoting Nazism, local media reported. Performing a seig heil is illegal in Poland, and carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.
why is this in ‘not the onion’? just nazis being nazis. whose fucking idea was it to take a literal fucking nazi on a tour of auschwitz anyway?
It wasn’t a Nazi salute. It was a heartfelt and perhaps ill-advised gesture that, in the moment, could be misinterpreted as a Nazi salute. I think we shouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions.
/s
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A heartfelt gesture indeed. Remember everyone: Jury Nullification.
I just don’t nazi it…
Did they drove off in a Tesla ? (asking for a friend)
I’m stunned … again !! … I have visited Auschwitz and it’s impressive beyond words. At the entrance of the former gas chambers there is a sign asking to respect and remember those who died in there and keep silent in the chambers. Everyone did except for Israeli students. That is what brought the tears to my eyes. Betrayed and disrespected again, this time by their own.
This also mirrors my experience at Aushwitz. Israeli teenagers were generally being dicks around the site and then unrolled several large Israeli flags to take group photos with.
Can’t blame the teens too much as their teachers had no problem with/promoted the behaviour.
I left the place traumatised, these kids… not so much.
When I was there a decade ago, people were taking selfies at the gas chambers. It was all a bit surreal to be honest. The museum is amazing, but the visitors were a mixed bag.
this reflects something i’ve been seeing rising here inemy hometown. when i was 15 i survived a terrorist attack. the whole community had a conversation about the appropriate way to address thiseand how to be respectful of the direct victims. 18 years later, you’d never even know we talked about any of that. the memorial is a popular place to take beaming graduation photos. the terrorist attack has been renamed in the popular lexicon from “place massacre” to “date shooting”. the institutions that promised us they saw and heard our pain and they would help us forge a new future are international sponsors of terror now.
it hurts. it hurts a lot.
I’m sorry you are going through that, my friend. May the path ahead be lined with good people and warm smiles. We often forget we live on a palimset of everything that came before.
Everyone did except this one guy. The other students didnt do this.
Oh believe me, Israeli trips in Kraków are the worst kind of tourists in every aspect possible. They are louder than British stag parties, more obnoxious than Americans and their favourite thing is crying about antisemitism when they are removed from somewhere for causing disturbances or making a huge mess. They do not understand the idea of rubbish bins and you can trace their paths by following cigarette butts, empty crisps packets and spit.
Is there any chance the ones making all the ruckus and disrespect were non-Jewish Israelis? That’s not an excuse but it makes it make more sense than actual Jews being so disrespectful. And if it is young Jews doing it, can you make it make sense? Do you have some sense for why / how they might be thinking?
Keeping in mind just being bad tourists doesn’t quite explain it. Kids groups tend to be shite tourists no matter where they are from. But even I knew as a 10yo not to act stupid when visiting some of the more somber locations I went to in the US; no less as a 21yo when I visited Dachau as a non-Jew.
The Palestinian Arabs are too busy being bombed to go visit the holocaust museum.
Avoiding the obvious hot button issue, I’ll just say I was assuming the observation could have pre-dated the current war AND there are other non-jews in Israel than just Palestinians.
Israel didn’t exist before the current war. Palestine has been suffering an invasion and the occupation of its sovereign territory since 1948.
About one in five Israelis are Arab - according to demographic figures.
I never know if they are Jewish or not, the groups themselves are distinct because they are always in large groups, with multiple guides and guards, but I can’t tell Jewish or non Jewish Israelis apart just by their faces. Idk why they behave like that. It’s all ages. I sometimes see them out in the city but I heard more chilling stories about them from a guy who operates a bus transfer business to Auschwitz.
[sigh] I’ll never understand this world.
Israel is a middle eastern country with a middle eastern temperament. That is less reserved and controlled than Central Europeans. The majority of Jews in Israel are Mizrahi, descendants from Jews who fled the MENA region, not Europe. They tend to be a bit more noisy and dramatic.
It would be interesting to get the perspective of an Israeli who went on such a trip.
It’s also unclear how prevalent this issue is, or if it’s just a few cases tainting their image. There are lots and lots of Israeli school kids visiting Auschwitz. Probably more than any other nationality. So it might simply be explained by their numbers.
Yup, all fair points and why I was asking hoping OP or someone else might have insights. Thanks.
I wonder how bibi is gonna spin this one into being antisemitism on the side of the people who reported the student.
"The Ministry of Education said that it had disciplined the student from an educational standpoint and that it would conduct an inquiry into the incident to ensure it did not happen again. “The Ministry of Education takes this serious incident very seriously. This is inappropriate behavior that completely contradicts Israeli educational values and the significance of the trip to Poland,” the ministry wrote in a statement, as reported by Channel 13 News. “The student was immediately addressed from both an educational and disciplinary standpoint and will undergo a full inquiry upon returning to Israel. Ministry officials will thoroughly examine the circumstances of the incident and formulate additional educational measures to ensure such incidents do not happen again.” Additionally, the Kiryat Bialik Municipality said in a statement that it would also be disciplining the student, Channel 13 News reported. "
Sounds like his school and community are planning on punishment.
"The Ministry of Education takes this serious incident very seriously
Ya don’t say
Nothings gonna happen to that kid. This is the classic Israeli “We will conduct an investigation” response with zero follow through. They do this to get away with genocide, i’m sure they’ll be able to get away with a “misinterpreted hand gesture.”
His punishment will be having to join the IDF and killing palestinian babies.
Nah but nice to see they at least keep up the outward appearance of giving a fuck.
That’s not punishment. That’s a legally required right of passage
“Military service teaches young people the values that we as a country believe in. It’s very important to our national identity that every adult citizen has murdered a baby. It makes us who we are.”
I feel like the irony is lost on many people
Theodor returns.
That’s so crazy it’s almost like people don’t like Nazis… 🤷
This happens a lot more than you’d think. I experienced something similar in Dachau and the guide told me if someone does something unhinged/disrespectful during a tour there’s a 9 out of 10 chance it’s a descendant of a holocaust victim. She didn’t say why she thought that is but she said it’s something that puts the staff on edge whenever there’s an Israeli group visiting. I’m surprised they got the cops involved though.
Not nazi salutes, but Hasidic tour groups in the US has a similar reputation for disrespectful behavior. They’re also the most visibly Jewish group to passerbys, so they drag the whole group’s image down with them and embolden anti-semites.
No, I like it here: we should kick THEM off!
I’d avoid calling it “THEM” in this instance. Unless you want to share something with the class.
Dear god I hope eel-on-musk goes to Poland and tries that. He so deserves to find out.
Edit: clarification: I’m saying I want him to be arrested somewhere that’s not the US
I cordially invite Elon to come to Melbourne Australia and flip his favourite salute.
Its a significantly more painful $23,000 fine there, and if he does it repeatedly there’s a good chance of a 12 month prison term.
https://www.vic.gov.au/fact-sheet-nazi-symbol-prohibition
P. S. If my maths is right he can do it almost 15 million times before he runs out of money, I might have to email Vic gov to ask them to review the fine to be wealth-adjusted.
It’s adorable that you think he’d be treated the same as some high school kids.
Depends. Europe isn’t exactly his fan right now, so unless he gets diplomatic immunity, he could get some real charges. He would just pay them off and cry about it on twitter, but it would be a very popular action for any Euro authority to take.
This genius ancestors must be rolling in their graves…
“He was just waving hello”
That’s what his co-student said. While that may be the case, it sure doesn’t sound like it, and they have the receipts so - I wouldn’t be betting a lot on that horse.
It says they have a video recording
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Auschwitz is in Poland, dawg
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Throw the book at them.
I’m not going to give some asshat teenager the same level of shit as Elon. It’s a hell of a lot more likely in that context that he really was kidding, just distastefully.
People making political decisions over edgy memes lead to the rise of modern fascism in the US, stop treating it like it has no impact. Kid metaphorically talked shit, this is the proverbial get hit.
For real… we are dealing with an edgy teenager here. Put away the torches people
You could be referring to either of them
if I was talking about Elon I’d have you ready the guillotine instead of putting away torches
Unfortunately, you are right.