Israeli Student Faces Charges For Stealing Auschwitz Artifacts For College Art Project

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By Daniel J. Solomon July 19, 2017

An Israeli art student is in hot water after she admitted stealing artifacts from Auschwitz for a senior art project.

Rotem Bides, 27, a student at Beit Berl College in Kfar Saba, told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that she stole the objects, including glass shards and soup bowls, in the course of six trips to the camp. She defended her actions by saying that she was the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.

“I felt that that this was something I have to do,” she told the Israeli newspaper. “Millions of people were murdered because of the moral laws of a particular country, under a particular regime. If these are the rules, I can come and act according to my rules.”

After the news report, the Auschwitz museum vowed to pursue a criminal complaint against Bides, and Beit Berl College said it would stop displaying her artwork and put her through a disciplinary hearing.

“This is a painful and scandalous act. This is a protected site and proof of the tragedy of the Holocaust that needs to be preserved for future generations,” read a statement from the museum.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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