An American visitor to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp attempted to steal a metal part of the historic rail tracks where prisoners were unloaded, officials said Sunday.
People pass the main gate after the 74th anniversary of the liberation of former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland.Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.WARSAW, Poland —
The 37-year-old man has been charged with attempted theft of an item of cultural importance, according to Malgorzata Jurecka, a police spokeswoman in the southern Polish town of Oswiecim, which was under German occupation during World War II. The crime can be punished with up to 10 years in prison.
The memorial site has faced multiple attempts of theft and vandalism in recent years. The most dramatic case was the 2009 theft of the sign with the Nazi slogan"Arbeit Macht Frei" at the death camp's main gate. It was found cut into pieces and was eventually repaired and stored in a safe place. A replica is now in its place.
Some 1.1 million people were killed during World War II at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the most notorious of Nazi Germany's death camps. Most of the victims were Jews but many Poles, Roma, Soviet POWs and others were also killed there.
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