The parents of one of the two British schoolboys arrested at Auschwitz have said their son is “mortified” by his actions and explained that he might have been “affected by the enormity of what he has seen”.
The boys, both 17, received a year’s probation, suspended for three years, and a 1,000-złoty (£170) fine after admitting stealing artefacts from the former Nazi death camp.
The boys’ independent school in Cambridge said on Wednesday that the pupils could face disciplinary action after an internal investigation.
Polish police said the boys tried to steal a comb, spoons, buttons and pieces of glass from block 5, where Nazi guards stored prisoners’ confiscated belongings during the second world war.
The boys were arrested by Polish authorities on Monday while on a history trip with the independent Perse school in Cambridge. They were released on Tuesday afternoon after spending the night in jail.
Speaking before their release, the parents of one of the boys said their son may have been affected by emotion and insisted he did not want to offend anyone.
“When you’re young you sometimes do things without thinking them through,” they said in a statement published by the Daily Mail. “We are very much aware of the seriousness of the situation and know that it is not a trivial matter. He knows that what he did was stupid and disrespectful and is very sorry for any offence that he has caused the Polish community.
“It is quite possible that he has been affected by the enormity of what he has seen and experienced and this may have clouded his judgment. [He] is mortified that he has offended people but really is not a malicious or disrespectful boy.”
Ed Elliot, the head of the £15,000-a-year school, said on Tuesday night he wanted to hear from the boys what led them to take the items. “I want to ensure that all necessary lessons are learned. The opportunity to be able to visit Holocaust sites carries with it the duty to treat those sites with the utmost respect and sensitivity,” he said.
A spokesman for Perse school – which counts theatre director Sir Peter Hall and Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd among its alumni – said it was too early to say whether the boys would face any disciplinary action. “The school will have a disciplinary investigation. They need to get all the information and speak to the boys first,” he said.
Sgt Krzysztof Łach, a spokesman at the Kraków police headquarters, said the teenagers were with a group of friends when they were detained at 3pm on Monday. “The museum is very important for us and to people from all around the world and the Jewish people,” he said.
About 1.5 million people, mainly European Jews, were gassed, shot, hanged or burned at Auschwitz, which was located in a Polish area annexed by Nazi Germany during the war.
Visitors have tried to steal artefacts as souvenirs from the museum in the past. In 2010, a Swedish man was jailed for orchestrating the theft of the notorious “Arbeit macht frei” sign over the entry gate.
• The main image on this article was changed on 24 June 2015 after a reader pointed out it showed the gates of Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany rather than Auschwitz.
