Rome Jewish Leader Detained After Auschwitz Visit
Image by getty images
The president of the Jewish community of Rome and a well-known Italian journalist were detained overnight by Polish police after recording an interview at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Roman Jewish Communal President Riccardo Pacifici and Italian journalist David Parenzo conducted the interview for an Italian television station Tuesday, following a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.
Left alone on the camp’s grounds, Pacifici and Parenzo attempted to leave Auschwitz at midnight via a side exit, according to Italian media. They were immediately detained by police and brought in for questioning.
They were released from police custody Wednesday morning following the intervention of the Italian embassy in Poland.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
