Polish web surfers decry post of offensive photo of Majdanek

Marcy Oster

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) – Polish internet users criticized a Facebook post by a Ukrainian teen who lives in Poland, which shows an offensive gesture directed toward a memorial at Majdanek.

The 17-year-old, identified as Wladyslaw, posted the photo on Facebook which shows him holding up his middle finger in the direction of the Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom at the site of the former Nazi concentration camp. “I took this picture, because I just do not like the Jews,” he wrote in his post.

Following the wave of anger, Wladyslaw apologized on Facebook earlier this week to Poles who felt offended.

“The Struggle and Martyrdom monument is dedicated to the memory of nearly 80 thousand people of different nationalities and faiths who lost their lives at Majdanek. Making an offensive gesture there is an expression of lack of respect for all those who suffered in the camp,” Agnieszka Kowalczyk-Nowak, a spokeswoman for the Museum at Majdanek, told the Polish daily Gazeta.

The Lublin prosecutor’s office is investigating the case. The teen could be charged with incitement to hatred for national, ethnic and racial reasons.

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