Auschwitz "Work Sets You Free"
Auschwitz "Work Sets You Free"Thinkstock

A Hungarian prosecutor on Tuesday ordered a man to read up on the Holocaust after he shared a picture on social media depicting Auschwitz as an imaginary fun camp, reports the AFP news agency.

The 33-year-old, from Gyongyos east of Budapest, must visit a Holocaust museum and read a well-known history book on the period, the chief prosecutor in Heves county said in a statement.

The picture, made by an unknown person, showed the entrance to the former death camp in Poland with the sign "Auschwitzland, the world's largest fairytale camp!" Around 4,000 people saw the image.

To avoid criminal charges, the man must also convince supervisors over a two-year period that he is unlikely to repeat the act, the prosecutor said, according to AFP.

In February 2010, the Hungarian parliament made denying the genocide committed by the Nazi regime a crime punishable by a maximum three-year prison sentence.

Suspending jail sentences or the pressing of criminal charges on condition of fulfilling certain tasks is common in Hungary since a reform of the country's criminal code in 2012, noted AFP.

Three months ago, the Italian Senate approved a bill to criminalize Holocaust denial.

Under the law people who partially, or entirely, deny the Holocaust will face a three-year prison sentence for promoting, inciting, or committing acts of racial discrimination.