A 19-year-old Israeli man was questioned for hours on Wednesday after Polish authorities took him into custody for urinating on a monument at the Auschwitz death camp, Polish media reported Thursday.
The museum that administers the Auschwitz site tweeted that the memorial in question stands near the gas chambers and crematoria.
Under Polish law, anyone who desecrates a historical monument may face a fine and a jail sentence. In this case, the authorities accepted the man's apology and fined him $1,500. No explanation of his offensive act was provided.
In other news from Poland, the government apologized Thursday for remarks made by the father of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Tuesday. Kornel Morawiecki said that Jews willingly entered the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II rather than being ordered to live there by the Nazis after the invasion of Poland.
"The Jews themselves went because they were told that there would be an enclave, that they would not have to deal with those nasty Poles," he said.
Morawiecki also argued that Jewish agents actively helped the Nazis send Jews to concentration camps.
On Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Bartosz Cichocki said the comments did not reflect the position of the Polish government. Cichocki made it clear that the statements did not reflect the position of the government, which is in a sensitive position due to the controversy around a recently passed law that makes it illegal for anyone to blame the Polish government or Polish people for Nazi crimes during World War II.
