Haredim visiting Majdanek vandalize death camp
Only intervention by Israeli ambassador to Poland prevented indictment of group of 35 strictly Orthodox men who ripped out entrance gate. Ambassador David Peleg: 'These incidents are a stain on Israel's good name'
Itamar Eichner Published: 08.02.07, 10:13 / Israel News
Israel has denouncedbefore the inappropriate behavior of visitors to former Nazi concentration and extermination camps, but when a group of Israeli citizens cut loose inside a camp, the shame is immeasurable.
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On Tuesday evening, a group of 35 strictly Orthodox young men arrived at the Majdanek death camp near the city of Lublin in eastern Poland. The camp museum site closes at 6 pm and the barracks preserved inside it close an hour earlier.
The group arrived to the camp some 15 minutes before it was due to close and though no reason has been given to explain the urgency that propelled the men to enter the camp at that late hour, it was evidently strong enough for them to rip the entrance gate from its hinges and walk inside.
In a letter sent to Israel's ambassador to Poland, David Peleg, the Lublin police chief wrote that the camp security guards found the group inside Barrack 14 as they surveyed the grounds before locking up for the night.
Museum administrators alerted the local police department and contacted the embassy. Ambassador Peleg managed to convince the group to sign a letter of confession and pay for the damaged property. In return, the museum agreed not to press charges so that the group would be spared questioning by the police.
'It's a terrible shame'
The Polish media reported extensively on the incident. Following the embarrassing publicity the embassy received requests from the offices of the Polish president and foreign affairs minister, seeking more information regarding the event.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time camps in Poland have been subjugated to inappropriate behavior from Israeli visitors. On July 23rd the Auschwitz museum director sent a complaint to the embassy claiming that a group of 60 Israeli college students arrived at the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp at 11 pm and demanded to be let inside.
The guards, preferring to avoid a confrontation with the group, allowed them to remain inside the camp grounds despite the fact that the site was closed. The group only left at around 5 am.
Peleg said he viewed both incidents with the utmost severity since they damaged Israel's reputation. In a report to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem he wrote: "I think that the message must get across to groups visiting Poland that this is a sovereign nation, and the most basic rule must be to respect the Advertisement
country and its rules, and that includes Auschwitz and Majdanek.
"This incident illustrates the enormous sensitivity with which these group visits are handled. The vast majority of visits are conducted without any problems (some 30,000 Israeli youths visit Poland every year) and contribute greatly to cooperation between the two countries and two peoples, it's a terrible shame that these isolated incidents stain the rest."
