Seniors at prestigious Dutch university turn Jewish student’s room into ‘Nazi death camp’ with Swastikas & other Nazi symbols as part of an initiation rite.

By i24news

A Jewish student at a Dutch university was shocked to discover recently that his fellow students had spray-painted swastikas and Nazi symbols on the walls of his room as part of an initiation rite.

The management at the Netherlands’ prestigious Leiden University said it would take harsh measures against the students responsible for the incident, which took place several days ago.

A family crosses the “Arbeit macht frei” gate of the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz in Poland, where some 1.1 million people, most of them European Jews, perished between 1940 and 1945 – Photo: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/FILE

The senior students redesigned the Jewish freshman’s dorm room by painting mass graves and train tracks on the walls and also hung barbed wire on the pipes and created a swastika from sticks, Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported. The students also spray-painting the German slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (work makes you free), which was placed over the entrance to several Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

The obvious Holocaust and Nazi symbolism led to the seniors being accused of anti-Semitic, but they denied there were any such motives behind the act.

Those responsible explained that they had redesigned the room as part of a humorous initiation rite for the prestigious Minerva Society.

Israeli Ambassador to the Netherlands Haim Divon said the incident was serious and needed to fully investigated. “While the issue is still being looked into by the university authorities, it’s an extremely serious incident,” he said. We expect not only the university, but the Dutch government too, to denounce the act and take serious measures against those responsible for it, in accordance with the Dutch government’s policy, which rejects any expression of anti-Semitism.”

“It’s unfortunate that such a serious incident took place a day after we held a ceremony honoring Righteous Among the Nations on behalf of Yad Vashem. The honors were accepted by relatives of Dutch citizens who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews.”

View original i24news publication at:
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/europe/93352-151123-seniors-at-dutch-university-turn-jewish-student-s-room-into-nazi-death-camp