Turks face charges after death camp fascist salute
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
15.10.2013 09:58
Two Turkish students could face charges of promoting fascism after allegedly making a Hilter salute at the former Nazi German death camp of Majdanek, eastern Poland.
Majdanek crematorium: photo - wikipedia
According to Justyna Rutkowska-Skowronek, head of the public prosecutor's office for southern Lublin, the Turks were reported by an Israeli group visiting the site.
“One of them (the Turks) made a fascist salute,” she told the Dziennik Wschodni.
“The other made a photo of him.”
After museum authorities were informed, the Turks were both detained and the camera was confiscated.
Turkish news source Today's Zaman reports that the students have claimed that the gesture was no more than a joke.
Prosecutor Justyna Rutkowska-Skowronek says that once the matter has been further investigated, the Turks' university will be informed about possible charges.
Under Polish law, public promotion of fascism and the denigration of an ethnic group or nationality can be punished with a three-year prison sentence.
It is estimated that about 78,000 people died at the Nazi death camp of Majdanek, the vast majority were Jewish. (nh)