Polish Facebook Post Mocks Majdanek Memorial
Facebook users in Poland slammed a teenager living there for an offensive post directed toward a memorial at Majdanek.
The post by the 17-year-old from Ukraine, identified as Wladyslaw, showed him holding up his middle finger in the direction of the Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom at the site of the former Nazi concentration camp.
“I took this picture, because I just do not like the Jews,” he wrote in his post.
Following the angry responses in response, Wladyslaw apologized on Facebook earlier this week to Poles who felt offended.
The Lublin prosecutor’s office is investigating the case. The teen could be charged with incitement to hatred for national, ethnic and racial reasons.
“The Struggle and Martyrdom monument is dedicated to the memory of nearly 80,000 people of different nationalities and faiths who lost their lives at Majdanek,” Agnieszka Kowalczyk-Nowak, a spokeswoman for the Museum at Majdanek, told the Polish daily Gazeta. “Making an offensive gesture there is an expression of lack of respect for all those who suffered in the camp.”
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
