The infamous "Arbeit macht frei" (“Work sets you free”) sign, stolen from the site of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz, was found in northern Poland and five men were arrested on Sunday evening Polish police have said. The metal sign was found cut into three pieces. A major search had been launched after the sign was removed before dawn on Friday. The theft had caused outrage world-wide.
Five men in their 20s or 30s were detained and taken to Krakow for questioning, a police spokeswoman said. Road blocks were in place across the southern Polish region, while around 40 officers and forensic experts were mobilized to gather evidence at the camp itself. Poland also sought the help of the international policing bodies Interpol and Europol to try to track down the criminals. "This is an absolute priority for the Polish police," added a spokeswoman for the national police.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged Poland to find the “twisted criminals” behind the theft. “It is important to preserve the site of the crime of the most notorious, awful act in the history of the Jewish people and the history of humanity,” Netanyahu said ahead of the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting. Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said the thieves were guilty of desecrating a site of immense importance. "Whoever has done it has desecrated world memory. Auschwitz has to stand intact because without it, we are without the world's greatest physical reminder of what we are capable of doing to each other."
The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was also used at the entrances to other Nazi concentration camps, including Dachau and Sachsenhausen. Between 1940 and 1945, over 1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered or died of starvation and disease while carrying out forced labor at the camp, which the Nazis built in occupied Poland. Today, the site is one of the main draws in the region for visitors from Poland and abroad.
The barracks and other structures are in a state of massive disrepair and Polish authorities have been struggling to find funds to carry out conservation work. Last week, the German government pledged € 60 million (US$ 85 million) to a new endowment that will fund long-term preservation work. The sum is half the amount of the estimated costs for preservation measures. The German government said that Auschwitz had to be maintained as a monument to condemn the Holocaust and Nazi reign of terror.
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