Mock Auschwitz gate at pro-Palestine protest in Sweden sparks outrage

By IMOGEN GARFINKEL - SENIOR FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 10:46, 15 July 2026 | Updated: 10:47, 15 July 2026 A pro-Palestine protest in Sweden has sparked outrage after protesters displayed a mock entrance gate modelled on the one at the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz. The demonstrators in Stockholm had replaced the gate's infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' ('Work Sets You Free') inscription with the word 'Gaza'. The display was erected during a march dedicated to the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who was seized by Israeli forces and has been held without charge for about 18 months. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claim that the medic was detained in December 2024 for suspected involvement in terrorist activities and for holding a rank in Hamas. Medical staff and international aid groups that worked with Abu Safiya deny that he co-operated with or worked for Hamas, however. Footage from the protest shows pro-Palestine activists carrying the gate across a road while wearing blue medical hair nets and clothes mimicking hospital scrubs. In the background, a drum can be heard while a man chants 'free, free, free Palestine'. The demonstration drew criticism from Jewish organisations and Israeli officials, who argued that using Holocaust imagery to depict the war in Gaza trivialized the Holocaust. A pro-Palestine protest in Sweden has sparked outrage after protesters displayed a mock entrance gate modelled on the one at the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz The demonstrators in Stockholm had replaced the gate's infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' ('Work Sets You Free') inscription with the word ' Gaza' The display was erected during a march dedicated to the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who was seized by Israeli forces and has been held without charge for about 18 months Israel's ambassador to Sweden, Ziv Nevo Kulman, condemned the display. 'I am following with deep concern the recent antisemitic incidents in Sweden,' he said.  'Whether it is a Jewish doctor subjected to verbal abuse at work, reports of healthcare workers participating in demonstrations where antisemitic statements were heard, or yet another weekly demonstration distorting the Holocaust in ways that leave me shocked, the pattern is deeply troubling.' 'How many more times can we condemn the same hatred?' he added.  'When will those responsible understand that failing to act against incitement only emboldens those who spread it?' The Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden also criticised the display at the demonstration. 'Trivializing the Holocaust in the way it was done during the demonstration in Stockholm is profoundly offensive and deeply repugnant,' said Aaron Verständig, the council's chairman. Daniel Schatz, a Swedish-Jewish researcher, highlighted the fact that the demonstration took place openly in front of police officers.  'The most remarkable thing is not the actions of the protesters. It is the passivity of those around them. 'The police are visibly on the scene. Authorities produce strategies, action plans and information campaigns. But when anti-Semitism occurs right before our eyes, very few seem to react,' he wrote in an op-ed published by Aftonbladet, a Swedish daily newspaper. 'Auschwitz was not just another symbol. It was a death camp where around a million people were murdered in an industrial and systematic manner. For those of us with family members who survived that hell, this is not a political metaphor but an open wound in history,' he wrote on X. The Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden criticised the display at the demonstration In the background, a drum can be heard while a man chants 'free, free, free Palestine' Historians estimate that around 1.1 million people perished in Auschwitz during the less than five years of its existence.  The majority, around 1 million people, were Jews.  The second most numerous group, some 70 thousand, was the Poles, and the third most numerous, about 21 thousand, the Roma and Sinti.  Approximately 15 thousand Soviet POWs and some 12 thousand prisoners of other ethnic backgrounds (including Czechs, Belorussians, Yugoslavians, French, Germans, and Austrians) also died there.  One demonstrator in Stockholm appeared to be wearing a reddened mask representing the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He wore a long, leather trench coat with a Star of David band on his arm. The man waved the Israeli flag and appeared to be holding a pile of cash, Schatz said. The outfit seemed to mimic the uniform of the Gestapo, Nazi Germany’s political police force responsible for protecting the regime from its supposed racial and political enemies.  Other female demonstrators wore keffiyehs and held plastic newborn babies in their arms. The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Israel retaliated by launching a military campaign in the Strip, during which more than 72,950 people have been killed, according to the territory's health ministry.