Monday, November 1st, 2021
Police chief horrified
Officials practice push-ups at the Holocaust Memorial
In the middle of Berlin an impressive memorial commemorates the murder of six million Jews. Again and again tourists cause outrage with their behavior in the memorial. But several police officers also reveal massive deficits – and do sports exercises on the steles.
The Holocaust memorial in Berlin has been abused by police officers for push-up training. Berlin’s police chief Barbara Slowik apologized and condemned the Whitsun weekend action. “The behavior of colleagues is a disregard for what this memorial stands for and does not correspond to the respect that must be shown to it and which is also shown to it by the Berlin police,” said Slowik. “For me it also hurts the memory of those who were murdered.”
The police were on duty at Pentecost because of demonstrations in the government district near the Holocaust memorial. A Photo in the “BZ” shows uniformed police officers doing push-ups on the stone blocks of the memorial. They are said to have filmed each other with cell phones.
The memorial, which was opened in 2005 to commemorate the six million Jews murdered by the National Socialists, consists of around 2,700 dark gray concrete blocks of different heights. According to the house rules, it is forbidden to run, make noise, jump from block to block, smoke or drink alcohol. Some tourists use the area for sunbathing, picnicking and selfies.
Slowik emphasized that it was about “a place of remembrance and remembrance” as well as “a place of reminder for the present, for the future”. The police will “make this unmistakably clear to colleagues, clearly point out the misconduct and deal with the matter in terms of service law”. Especially with a view to the very good cooperation with the Jewish community, she expressly apologizes.
The police union (GdP) announced: “The behavior of our colleagues cannot be surpassed in bad taste. The Holocaust memorial is not an adventure playground. This inexplicable action mocks the genocide of millions of people and promotes the values for which our Berlin police stand , with feet. ” Apparently, even within the police, there is a lot of catching up to do in the area of political education.