Auschwitz Concentration Camp's 'Arbeit Macht Frei' Gate Is Stolen
Although a trip to the outskirts of Krakow, Poland to visit the most notorious of all Nazi concentration camps in winter is not the most ideal holiday vacation, many tourists visiting the site this week will notice something distinctly missing: the much-photographed "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate, through which you enter the compound. This is the Auschwitz I camp, and prisoners here during World War II were made to walk through the gates to the music of an orchestra; the German sign translates to "Work makes (one) free."
The sign was stolen last night from the ground of Auschwitz by a group of three thieves, believed to be neo-Nazis who might be part of the group that believes the Holocaust was exaggerated. The Times UK reports:
'It seems that a gang of perhaps three people unscrewed the sign between three o’clock and five o’clock on Friday morning,' said the spokesman for the police in southern Poland, Dariusz Nowak, 'they must have used a ladder and had a car waiting for them.' 'The camp museum directors have already stated that a replica has been made of 'Arbeit macht Frei.' The neo-Nazis could try to establish that the sign is fake – and thus, by extension, claim that much of the camp is as well.'
It is believed that they may have taken the gate to authenticate it, but what they took is the real one. The replica has been installed for now, because tourists must have it to take pictures of, and otherwise its absence would announce that yet another crime had been committed at Auschwitz.
A few other concentration camps also bear the "Arbeit Macht Frei" gates, but they aren't as large and as famous as Auschwitz's. For instance, there is one at the smaller concentration camp of Dachau, outside of Munich.
Related Stories:
· Thieves steal Auschwitz entrance sign [Times UK]
· Crime travel [Jaunted]
[Photo: kalleboo]
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