Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

‘The theft of such a symbolic object is an attack on the memory of the
Holocaust, and an escalation from those elements that would like to
return us to darker days,’ Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said in a
statement from Jerusalem.
‘I call on all enlightened forces in the world who fight against anti-
Semitism, racism, xenophobia and the hatred of the other, to join together
to combat these trends.’
The 16-foot sign bearing the German words ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ — ‘Work
Sets You Free’ — spanned the main entrance to the Auschwitz death
camp, where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed during
World War II.
Working under the cover of darkness and timing their theft between
regular security patrols, the culprits unscrewed the 90-pound steel banner
on one side and tore it off on the other, then carried it 300 yards to an
opening in a concrete wall.
The opening, which had been left intentionally to preserve a poplar tree
dating back to the war, was blocked by four metal bars, which the thieves
cut. Footprints in the snow led to the nearby road, where police believe
the sign was loaded onto a vehicle.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who spoke with Israeli President
Shimon Peres about the theft, ordered authorities to do all in their power
to recover the sign swiftly and catch the perpetrators. ‘I treat this as a
priority,’ Tusk said. Police deployed 50 officers, including 20 detectives,
and a search dog to the Auschwitz grounds, where barracks, watchtowers
and rows of barbed wire stand as testament to the atrocities of Nazi
Germany.
The sign disappeared between 3:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., a police
spokeswoman said. Authorities were reviewing footage from a surveillance
camera that overlooks the entrance gate and the road beyond, but
declined to say whether the crime was recorded or if the suspects could be
seen in the darkness.
However, Auschwitz memorial director Piotr Cywinski told reporters the
camera broadcasts live images on the Internet and the footage is not
recorded. He announced a $34,000 reward for information leading to the
sign’s recovery and the apprehension of the culprits.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called the theft a
‘disgraceful act.’
Poland’s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said he had trouble imagining
who was behind the theft. ‘If they are pranksters, they’d have to be sick
pranksters, or someone with a political agenda. But whoever has done it
has desecrated world memory,’ Schudrich said.
He said the theft could have been committed by neo-Nazi extremists, or
even people scheming to sell the sign on the black market.
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