An Israeli Student Stole Holocaust Artifacts to Use in Art Project

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Rotem Bides justified her behavior saying she can “act according to [her] own laws.”

An art student at Jerusalem’s Beit Berl College, admitted to stealing relics from Auschwitz concentration camp.[/tweetit] Among the many items Rotem Bides stole, there were spoons, bowls and glass pieces. She also took home a sign which warned visitors not to take any part of Germany's most shameful period in history.

An Israeli Student Stole Holocaust Artifacts to Use in Art Project[/tweetthis]

The 27-year-old has a strange explanation for her behavior. She said that she has complete right to take artifacts as per her own laws. The whole thing was done by her during a total of six visits to the former concentration camp during her gap year. To justify her action, she said that she was almost compelled to swipe pieces of history. According to her, “Millions of people were murdered based on the moral laws of a certain country, under a certain regime. And if these are the laws, I can go there and act according to my own laws. The statement I’m making here is that laws are determined by humans, and that morality is something that changes from time to time and from culture to culture.”

Michal Ne'eman, her assigned academic adviser, had given his backing. He said that he did not observe anything amiss with his student's deviation of the protocol. He tried to reason her actions were not “devious nor manipulative.” She simply took a portion of evidence by which she could be a part. All the stolen items were on display at the college.

Beit Berl College has its campus on the Kfar Saba outskirts. It denied reports that one of the college's graduating arts students have stolen artifacts from Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum so that she can complete her art project to be submitted during her finals. The final year's student was then displayed in the graduating students' exhibition. She issued a letter of clarification which was part of the exhibit. It was also shown on the website of the exhibitor.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum officials want back the items which Bides stolen from them. ″‘Art’ does not justify theft,” they said in a tweet. The officials are all set to lodge a formal complaint against Bides. The show was ultimately shut down by Beit Berl College. Bides was then summoned for a disciplinary hearing. 

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