Polish services punished the foreigner for the Nazi motion made in Auschwitz-Birkenau. A Colombian citizen is expected to leave the country and will not enter the Schengen area for 5 years. This reaction defends the seriousness of the site, which is the cemetery of the victims and the evidence of German terror.
Place which imposes obligations
Auschwitz-Birkenau is not an average point on the tourist map. The erstwhile German Nazi concentration and extermination camp remains a cemetery of victims and a material proof of the criminal strategy of the 3rd Reich. Visitors are obliged to keep their dignity regardless of nationality, views or degree of cognition of history.
The motion referring to Hitler here makes an highly disgusting sense. He can't be excused by a joke, posing for a recording or ignorance. The memory of the murdered requires a clear line.
Police have intervened.
Kresy.pl portal informed about the intervention of the police from Oświęcim towards the citizen of Colombia. At the Memorial, a man raised his hand in a Nazi greeting, and a individual from his surroundings recorded the situation by telephone.
A fine was applied to the foreigner. There was besides a decision ordering him to leave Poland and prohibiting him from entering Schengen countries for 5 years. These measures show that insulting memory in Auschwitz has real consequences.
Liability is individual
The origin of a man is crucial for the execution of an administrative decision, but it must not lead to the full nation being judged. A circumstantial individual is liable for the act. This is precisely what a serious state should be doing: without collective charges, but with consistent enforcement.
The foreigner benefits from legal protection and human dignity in Poland. It must besides respect the rules of the Republic. The right of residence does not mean approval to behave in public order and to remember the victims of totalitarianism.
Sovereignty besides serves memory
The decision to expel is not a retaliation. The State has the right to recognise that a individual who disregards simple principles should no longer be in its territory. Sovereignty is besides expressed in the ability to defend places with peculiar historical responsibility.
Auschwitz is visited by people from all over the world. Public institutions should be clear about the rules, make education and respond to their informed violations. Education itself, however, is not adequate erstwhile the line has already been crossed.
Poland has a work to defender the fact about German crimes committed on occupied land and to defend the dignity of all victims of the camp. The fast consequence of the service sends a clear message: the place of demolition will not become a phase plan for provocation.
