Man charged with trying to steal railway tracks from Auschwitz

Man charged with trying to steal railway tracks from Auschwitz The memorial site has dealt with a number of thefts in recent years, including the stealing of a sign from its main entrance.

Image: Part of the railway tracks leading into the Nazi death camp were stolen

A US man has been charged with attempting to steal part of the railway tracks leading to the former Auschwitz concentration camp.

A Polish police official said the 37-year-old tried to take a metal part of the tracks - where prisoners were unloaded during the Holocaust - from the Nazi death camp.

Malgorzata Jurecka, a police spokeswoman in the town of Oswiecim - which was under German occupation during World War II - said the man had admitted his guilt.

He could face up to 10 years in prison for the attempted theft of an item of cultural importance.

Image: The Arbeit Macht Frei sign was stolen from the camp's main entrance in 2009

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the Nazi concentration camps and more than 1.1 million people died at the site.

The memorial site has had multiple incidents of theft and vandalism in recent years, including the theft of a sign bearing the Nazi slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Will Set You Free") from the main gate in 2009.

A state of emergency was declared in Poland, involving a nationwide search and tightened border controls, but the sign was later found cut into three pieces.

In 2015, two English teenagers were caught stealing from the museum during a school trip and forced to hand back parts of a hair clipper, buttons and fragments of glass.

Image: Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi concentration camp

Officials at the Auschwitz Museum recently asked visitors to stop posting selfies on the railway tracks.

In a tweet, they said: "When you come to @AuschwitzMuseum remember you are at the site where over 1 million people were killed. Respect their memory.

"There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolises deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths."