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Itongadol.- University students in the Netherlands redecorated a Jewish classmate\’s dorm room to look like a Nazi death camp, Dutch media reported according to JTA on Wednesday.
The incident, reported by Dutch daily Volksrant on Friday, involved members of Leiden University\’s Minerva Society, Holland\’s oldest student association.
As part of an apparent hazing ritual, several seniors redesigned the room of a freshman student living in university housing. That student is believed to be Jewish, the daily noted.
Volkskrant obtained a video of the room, which shows mass graves painted on the floor, barbed wire hanging from pipes and the German words "Arbeit macht frei" spray-painted on the room\’s walls.
The words, meaning "work makes you free" are a reference to the signs Nazis hung at the entrance to several concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz in Poland.
Train tracks, likely a reference to the railcars which Nazis used to transport Jews to death camps, were also displayed on the walls, as was a Nazi swastika made out of sticks.
Max Grapperhaus, the head of the Minerva student association, would neither confirm nor deny reports, but did say that "whether Jewish guys live there or not, such activities are inappropriate and cannot be tolerated."
Leiden University is reportedly considering disciplinary action, including expulsion, against the students responsible for the disturbing prank.