There is an image that has been circulating everywhere on social networks for three days. It portrays a young woman tourist in star pose, sunglasses and red hair thrown back, leaning on a rail of the Birkenau railway trackone of the extermination camps of the complex Auschwitz. A boy crouched between the sleepers makes one Photo with it smartphone, while another blonde girl walks on the other rail, as in a balancing act. To post the shot on Twitter was a producer of the British TV Gb News, Maria Murphy: “Today I had one of the experiences most heartbreaking of my life“, he says, referring to the visit to the camp. And he adds: “Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like everyone found it that touching.”
Today I had one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. Regrettably it didn’t seem everyone there found it quite so poignant. pic.twitter.com/3OdWavqC4P
— Maria ???????? (@MariaRMGBNews) April 15, 2023
The tweet reached almost thirty million views, triggering thousands of indignant reactions at the lightness with which the immortalized tourists visited these places of horror, where the deported Jews and others were exterminated by the Nazis during the Second World War. “What the f*** do they have in their heads these people?”, writes for example Darren Grimes, one of the conductors of GB News. “Total detachment from reality, is the only explanation,” replies Murphy. Another user recalls: “When I was there, it seems to me that the guide asked not to do these behaviors out of respect.” And the producer confirms: “We have been asked many times to be careful and respectful. One might think that sort of thing need not be specified“.
Total detachment from reality. That’s the only explanation.
— Maria ???????? (@MariaRMGBNews) April 16, 2023