An American was discovered attempting to steal a piece of a train track at Auschwitz. He was arrested with an original sentence of ten years, but when he pled guilty it was shrunk down to two years with probation. He is not required to stay in Poland for the trial but must higher a lawyer to represent him in his absence. They also recently had to warn against taking pictures balancing on the tracks, saying, "There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths."
This was an unexpectedly disheartening article to read. Of course, the original subject matter of stolen property is extremely unfortunate, but the fact that they had to tell people how to respect history by not walking all over it was ended up being more worrisome in my opinion. Right now our world seems to be centered around attention. Everyone wants to be the most famous, with the most followers and the most views. People will go to extraordinary lengths, even dishonoring world history, to do so.
This defacement of a genocide camp directly connects to the Holocaust, but also to the Japanese Internment camps in America.
ABC has given me great material to work from and I trust it as an unbiased source. 10/10 would recommend.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/american-charged-steal-part-train-tracks-auschwitz/story?id=62090317&cid=clicksource_4380645_null_card_hed
I am astonished at the absolute nerve of some people, to desecrate a site with such awful history. I just hope the guy was trying to steal the track for sentimental purposes, such as an uncle who was in the holocaust, instead of some sick sort of souvenir.
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