The head of Rome’s Jewish community and four other Italians were questioned by police after triggering an alarm at the visitor’s center at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Riccardo Pacifici, whose grandparents were murdered at Auschwitz, and the others were questioned for several hours at a police station before being released.
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The entire incident lasted more than six hours, from 11 p.m. to after 5 a.m. the next morning, according to Polish officials and Perugia.
Security at the site has been tightened in recent years after a number of attacks by vandals. The most dramatic occurred in 2009 when Swedish neo-Nazis stole the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign over the main gate and cut it into pieces. The sign was retrieved and repaired and a replica was put in its place.
