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Auschwitz accuses Russia of using faked museum pictures as propaganda

Russian state agencies posted manipulated images of anti-Russian stickers at the camp

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ORANIENBURG, GERMANY - JANUARY 27: Carnations hang at the infamous entrance gate that reads: "Arbeit macht frei", or "Work sets one free" at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial on January 27, 2020 in Oranienburg, Germany. January 27th will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, the most notorious of the many Nazi concentration camps. The Nazis began the operation of Sachsenhausen in 1936, initially as a prison for their political opponents, but later used it for other groups, including Jews and Soviet prisoners of war. Sachsenhausen was the first camp to test the use of gas chambers for perfecting the mass murder of prisoners. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

The Auschwitz museum has accused Russia of using the historic site for propaganda purposes.

Last week, several Russian state-affiliated accounts began posting images of Auschwitz with poorly spelled English captions.

One post, from the Russian Arms Control Delegation in Vienna said:"Labels in Auschitz June 22: 'Russia and Russians, we hate you. The only gas you and your country deserve is Zyclone B"

Shortly after the incendiary claims were made, the official Auschwitz museum account tweeted that the pictures were "gross propaganda."

In a statement, Auschwitz said: “The use of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial for propaganda that lends credence to alleged Russophobia and strengthens theories about the need for denazification of Ukraine should be opposed by all thinking people worldwide.”

Since the beginning of the conflict earlier this year, Russia has attempted to invoke Nazism in various ways, saying that Ukraine was led by 'drug-addicted' Nazis. In May, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Hitler was part Jewish. When asked about how Russia was "De-nazifying" a country with a Jewish leader, he said: "I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. [That Zelensky is Jewish] means absolutely nothing. Wise Jewish people say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews."

Early on in the conflict, Russian forces bombed the area of Kyiv containing the Babyn Yar memorial, a monument to the massacre of the same name that's considered to be the first major massacre in the Soviet Union's "Holocaust of bullets."

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