Education After Auschwitz

A young student who set off with his schoolfellows for an educational visit to Auschwitz has been given more of an education than was promised in the itinerary. The busload of young people from Belgium was stopped for ten hours on the German-Polish burder, from Sunday night to Monday morning.

The bus was allowed to set out again Monday, a little before 11 a.m. An agreement had been found between the director of the school and the German embassy in Belgium. But the bus returned with one student less.

A 19-year old Cameroons student who had attended the IPES at Waremmes since 2002 had joined his fellows for the Auschwitz trip. He did not carry a diplomatic passport since his father was no longer attached to his country's embassy. At the German border, the young man was threatened with expulsion to Cameroun. The guides objected to this option and said that the teenager should be repatriated to Belgium pending the treatment of his case.

In spite of the agreements made, we heard yesterday that the young man finds himself held in a detention centre in Germany. I'm hoping friends in Belgium who passed on this glimpse of Europe's immigration and asylum cops at work will be able to keep us posted.