"I find it unbelievable that such Holocaust distortion can happen 300 km from where the original sign stands," Isreali charge d'affairs to Poland Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon said on Wednesday. She expressed outrage at a banner displayed by members of Poland's far-right Confederation party at Tuesday's anti-vax rally in front of Polish parliament. They made a sign saying "Vaccination makes you free", clearly referring to infamous inscription Nazi Germans placed at the gates of the Auschwitz death camp. The banner and its authors have been also condemned by the Auschwitz Museum and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
On Tuesday evening in front of the Sejm, Poland's far-right Confederation party staged a rally to protest against coronavirus restrictions and so-called COVID passports. The protest under a slogan "Stop sanitary segregation" was attended by MPs: Robert Winnicki, Konrad Berkowicz, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Artur Dziambor and Grzegorz Braun.
Footage from the event shows the Confederation MPs standing next to a banner saying "Vaccination makes you free", clearly referring both in form and content to the "Arbeit macht frei" (Work makes you free" sign at the gates of the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp .
"Most of my father's family was murdered in Auschwitz along with more than a million other victims," Israeli charge d'affairs to Poland Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon said in a tweet on Wednesday.
"This sign is disrespectful to their memory, and I find it unbelievable that such Holocaust distortion can happen 300 km from where the original sign stands," she added.
"The 'Arbeir macht frei' sign is an icon of human hatred. Instrumental treatment of a symbol of suffering of the victims of Auschwitz - the largest cemetery of Poland and the world - is an outrageous example of moral degeneration," the Auschwitz Museum said in a tweet.
"It's even more embarrassing, when it's done by Polish MPs," the museum underscored.
Morawiecki: let's never lower ourselves to such level
Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the banner and reminded that in less than 5 years of Auschwitz camp existence, 1.1 - 1.5 million people had lost their lives - children, women, men, old, and young.
"The sign placed at the entrance to the camp is one the holiest symbols of German cruelty, barbarity, and World War II crimes," Morawiecki said in a Facebook post.
Morawiecki called the very idea of using the infamous inscription this way a "tragic and gloomy picture showing just how low some politicians and protesters can get in their mindless, anti-vaccination rhetoric".
He added that "out of respect for victims of German crimes, out of respect for Poland, history, and those who died so that today we could be able to hold disputes in our own language in front of the Polish Parliament, I kindly appeal to never lower ourselves to this level of debate".
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP