Polish authorities have arrested two Canadian teachers who allegedly stole railway spikes from the line used to transport Jews to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, AFP has reported.
“Security guards detained two Canadians in their twenties shortly before noon on Saturday in possession of two spikes that held down the rails,” museum spokesman Bartosz Bartyzel told AFP.
“The two men were handed over to the police,” Bartyzel said. “For us, this is a case of desecration of a place of memorial. These items are priceless.”
Prosecutor Mariusz Slomka said the 30-year-old suspects told authorities they had wanted the spikes as souvenirs.
Local police Chief Robert Chowaniec said Monday that the two could face up to ten years in prison if the spikes are deemed to be historic artifacts.
Responding to the incident, a Canadian Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the department is gathering information about the matter. “We deplore any assault on the integrity of the historical evidence preserved at the Auschwitz Museum,” the spokesperson said. “Protecting and preserving that evidence is our solemn obligation, not just to victims and survivors of the Nazi horrors, but to future generations, and indeed to civilization itself.”
The men have been released and police have not said whether the two will face charges.
Over one million people were killed at Auschwitz as part of the Nazi attempt to exterminate Europe’s Jews in the Holocaust. The most recent incident comes weeks after Auschwitz survivors commemorated seventy years since the first train arrived at Auschwitz.
In 2009, the iron sign reading “Arbeit Macht Frei” at the entrance of the camp was stolen prompting Poland to declare a state of emergency.
