Zionists paying respects at Auschwitz

Here's a curious letter to the Glasgow Herald. I was sent the link by Osama Saeed. It complains of chauvinistic behaviour by young Israelis, or people with Israeli flags anyway, at Auschwitz.

Disrespectful behaviour at Auschwitz

Current Israeli aggression in Lebanon prompts me to draw the attention of your readers to a phenomenon which is creating concerns for guides and visitors to the State Museum of Auschwitz.

During the past year in particular, I have witnessed several large groups of (mainly) young visitors shouldering Israeli national flags who have made their way through the main camp and Birkenau in a manner which is less than respectful to the memories of the many victims who perished there.

These groups display a distinctly noisy and aggressive attitude and are becoming a source of embarrassment and irritation to the many museum guides who work extremely hard to present the horrors of Auschwitz in a dispassionate and balanced manner to the huge number of daily visitors from all over the world.

Given that Jewish victims considered themselves to be long-term nationals of whichever European country they inhabited prior to their tragic deportation to the Nazi death camps, I consider it inappropriate that overt displays of Israeli nationalism should be allowed to subvert that awareness.

Furthermore, these aggressive displays are disrespectful to the memories of other groups of victims such as the Roma and Sinti peoples (gipsies), Polish political prisoners and Russian POWs who also perished there. Russian POWs were the first to suffer from Nazi experiments with gassing in Auschwitz.

Not every group from Israel behaves like this. I spoke to the leader of a group of Israeli Orthodox Jews who appeared to share my concern. But it is, nonetheless, a fact that an increasing number of young Israelis appear to assume that their heritage gives them the right to destroy the reflective mood which is such an important part of any visit to Auschwitz.

It is a worrying trend that presents the Polish museum authorities – and visitors – with a problem which will have to be addressed if the museum is not to become overwhelmed with Israeli nationalist sentiment. The memory of all the victims of Auschwitz surely deserves a sensitive attitude that transcends national displays of any kind.

More zionisation of the holocaust?