Auschwitz Museum accuses Russia of using fake Auschwitz images for propaganda

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland has accused Russia of posting images of the Nazi death camp for propaganda purposes.

Museum authorities have argued that a Russian agency has used fake images from Auschwitz, using the Holocaust as a way of giving credence to the unfounded claim that there is a genocide being committed against ethnic Russians in Ukraine.

The Russian Arms Control Delegation in Vienna, an organisation which claims to be the Delegation to the Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control based in the Austrian capital but is actually considered to be a media disinformation arm of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, tweeted that there are labels in Auschwitz that say “Russia and Russians, we hate you. The only gas you and your country deserve is Zyclone B [sic]”. 

The Auschwitz Museum responded with a tweet which said that the pictures were “gross propaganda” that “strengthens theories about the need for denazification of Ukraine”.

This is not the first time that Russia has invoked the history of Nazism and the Holocaust since its invasion of Ukraine. In May, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, outrageously claimed that Hitler had “Jewish origins” and accused Jews themselves of being the primary source of antisemitism.

In January, the Director of the Auschwitz-Birkeneau State Museum, Piotr Cywiński, appeared on Podcast Against Antisemitism and explained why the Museum is so important in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and the lessons that we must take away from it. 

With antisemitism increasing worldwide, Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on antisemitic incidents globally.