British teenagers arrested over stolen Auschwitz artefacts

The boys from the Perse School,in Cambridge were on a educational trip at the time.

Ed Elliott, headteacher at the private school said: "It is still too soon to comment on the details of this case. But it is particularly sad that a situation of this kind had arisen in the course of a visit to a location such as this.

"The whole party was deeply aware of the scale of the tragedy associated with Birkenau and the other camps of the Holocaust.

"We believe that it is essential that young people growing up in today's world have a proper understanding of just what happened in that time, and these visits are an important part of that process of learning and understanding.

"Removal of historical artefacts is clearly wrong and a very serious matter. We apologise for any thoughtless and offensive behaviour by these two pupils."

According to Deputy Inspector Mariusz Ciarka of the Malopolska police, the pupils denied the offences.

Inspector Ciarka told reporters the suspects did not understand the gravity of their alleged crime and were unfamiliar with “the dramatic history associated with Auschwitz”.

He said: “In contrast, museum staff are particularly sensitive to these types of incidents.”

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “This is absolutely shocking and shows gross disregard to the memory of the Holocaust.

"Every single artefact found at Auschwitz-Birkenau tells a story of the more than a million people who were ruthlessly murdered by the Nazis there and this incident serves to show why our work is crucial now more than ever.

"We have a duty to educate the next generation to prevent ignorance and hate, and in over 15 years of organising for thousands of British teenagers to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, we have never known of such an incident.

"We would gladly work with these young boys to ensure they understand the implications of their actions although this is now a matter for the police.”