Two British public schoolboys freed after arrest on suspicion of stealing items at Auschwitz

Two British public schoolboys who were arrested in Poland on suspicion of stealing items from Auschwitz, Nazi Germany's most notorious death camp have been freed.

The two came under investigation for theft of items of cultural significance after being caught in possession of fragments of hair clippers and spoons, buttons and pieces of glass.

The pupils of Perse School in Cambridge pleaded not guilty when detained at a police station but later on Tuesday, the two teenagers were released after accepting a suspended sentence and fine.

“The two detainees have admitted their guilt and have declared they are willing to voluntarily submit themselves to punishment,” said Dariusz Slomka, a deputy district prosecutor. The details of the sentence or fine were not specified.

The students, who have not been named because Polish reporting restrictions, could have faced 10 years behind bars.

He added the two, both male aged 17, appeared unaware of the gravity of the situation and tragic history of Auschwitz.

Pawel Sawicki, a spokesman for the Auschwitz museum, which now maintains the camp, told The Telegraph the two were part of a tour group when they were spotted by security staff on Monday picking up items from the ground

“Our security had to react because you can’t take anything from the camp, and they were stopped and searched,” added Mr Sawicki.

According to the pupils' school statement, they "attempted to keep some items of historical importance which they had found on the ground".

"We understand they have explained that they picked up the items without thinking, and they have apologised unreservedly for the offence they have given, and expressed real remorse for their action," the Perse School's spokesman said.

It appears the two removed items from an area of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp called “Canada,” which, during the Second World War, was the site of a warehouse containing possession looted from the millions of victims claimed by the death camp.

As the Red Army closed in on the camp in 1945 the Germans torched the warehouse, and many of its possessions still lie buried in the soil.

At it contains the last physical evidence of a vast number of people who were reduced to nothing but ashes, Polish authorities have classified Canada as a cemetery and have left the site untouched although visitors are free to walk around it.

Although the Britons could face prison if found guilty, so far Polish courts have preferred not to impose custodial sentences on those convicted of theft from the camp.

In 2011 an Israeli couple received a three-year suspended sentence after being found guilty of stealing items from Canada.

But one notable exception was the sentence handed down to Anders Hoegstrom. A court sent the Swede to jail for three years for his role in masterminding the theft of the “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Works makes you free) sign that hangs across the entrance to Auschwitz in December 2009.