Polish court: EU-wide warrant for arrest of Swedish man over Auschwitz sign theft

02 February 2010

A court in Poland has issued a European Union-wide arrest warrant for a Swedish citizen suspected of involvement in the theft of the ‘Arbeit macht frei’ sign at the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz. A spokesman for the District Court in Krakow said the warrant was issued for Anders Högström, a former Swedish neo-Nazi suspected of inciting several Polish men to commit the theft, regarded as a ‘cultural treasure’ in legal terms.

The metal sign was stolen from the site of the former death camp in December and found three days later, cut into pieces. Five Polish men were arrested and have been charged with the theft. The court spokesman did not give any further details but Polish prosecutors have previously identified Högström as the mastermind of the theft. He reportedly acted on behalf of a British Nazi sympathizer who wanted to have the sign.

The warrant obliges authorities in the 27 EU member states to arrest the man if he is found and to hand him over to the Polish authorities. The metal sign is currently being repaired. Officials say a replica now topping the entrance gate may remain there permanently as the original could prove too fragile to withstand the weather conditions.

Högström, who in 1994 had founded the National Socialist Front and five years later quit it, said in a newspaper interview last month that he had been commissioned to collect the sign from the Polish gang that carried out the theft and pass it to a buyer. "I was asked if I wanted to take the sign from one location to another," he said in an interview with the daily ‘Aftonbladet’. "We had a person who was willing to pay several millions [of Swedish kronor] for the sign."

Högström said he decided to inform police about the plot after he became aware that the money would be used to disrupt the election campaign in Sweden. "That was not something I wanted to be involved in or carry out in any way," he was quoted as saying.

 

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