Rome ( CNN ) A row has erupted over allegations by representatives of Rome 's Jewish community that they were locked into the former Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and treated `` like real criminals '' after filming a TV interview . Rome 's Jewish community spokesman Fabio Perugia said on Twitter that he and the head of Rome 's Jewish community , Riccardo Pacifici , had been filming with a TV crew from Italy 's Canale 5 following a ceremony Tuesday to mark 70 years since the camp 's liberation . The crew had finished their work at 11 p.m. , and the group tried to leave , he said . But group members found they were locked in the camp in subzero temperatures with no security guards in sight . `` Riccardo Pacifici then pushed through a window that was in the ticket sales building , and the window opened up , '' Perugia said . `` He entered and then opened the door for us . At that point , the alarm went off . And we thought , 'Good , finally someone from security will come to let us out . ' `` However , at this point , their night got worse , Perugia said . `` The security guard arrived indeed , but instead of letting us go , they kept us there . For hours , and hours and hours . They started to interrogate us and they treated us like real criminals , '' he said . Perugia said the guards were inflexible and insisted on following procedure . Eventually , they took the party to the Auschwitz police station , he said , where they were kept until 5:30 a.m. and questioned one by one . `` They do n't know how to distinguish between the real criminals and those who were there simply to do an interview and honor the Day of Memory , '' he said . The incident ended with the party writing down their version of events , Perugia said , adding that they had asked for the matter to be looked into through Italian diplomatic channels . A spokesman for the Auschwitz museum gave CNN a different account of the evening 's events , however . Pawel Sawicki said the Italian TV crew had permission to film at the site until 11.30 p.m. , when they had agreed that they would exit and security guards would come to the gate to let them out . He said CCTV footage shows they finished early and went to the gate a few minutes past 11 p.m. Rather than waiting for the security guards to come at the agreed time , one of them broke into the visitor center and let others in , too , he said . This triggered an alarm , so the security guards came to the building , which houses cash registers and an ATM . According to protocol , they asked the men to show ID , but they refused to do so , Sawicki said . The police had to be called since they can only demand that people show ID documents , he said . The police then arrived and took over the matter , he said . `` While being on the site , we have to follow the rules , '' Sawicki said . `` So until the unfortunate incident , everything was OK because they had our permission , they cooperated with our security and they had the time that they declared they would be leaving . '' He said the group could also have gone to another exit 150 meters ( nearly 500 feet ) away where the security guards were based if they wanted to leave earlier -- and could then have been let out of that gate . `` However , they decided to act outside the regulations and triggered the security alarm and triggered the whole reaction and then refused to cooperate . '' Auschwitz is a `` priceless heritage place , '' he said . `` It must be protected and there must be security . '' CNN 's Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London and Hada Messia from Rome .
Rome 's Jewish community spokesman says they were treated like criminals at Auschwitz . He says they were interrogated for hours by security guards and police after being locked in . Auschwitz spokesman says the group broke into a building and then refused to cooperate .