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Auschwitz's 'Work Makes You Free' Sign Is Whole Again

Metal sign was mutilated by thieves

By the Associated Press

Posted May 18, 2011 12:02 PM CDT

(AP) – Auschwitz's notorious "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) sign is back in one piece again after undergoing a painstaking restoration, reports the AP. Thieves cut the sign into pieces, and twisted and crushed parts of it during a 2009 theft, according to a reparations leader. Officials at the site in southern Poland said the original sign will probably be moved to an exhibition hall under development. A replica presently stands in its place.

Initially, authorities suspected neo-Nazis as culprits, but it actually turned out to be five ordinary, profit-driven thieves working for a single neo-Nazi who pleaded guilty to the crime last year.

Officials show the restored notorious Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free) sign in Oswiecim, Poland on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. The sign was stolen from the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in 2009 and bent and cut into several pieces. In painstaking conservation work it has been welded...
Officials show the restored notorious "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) sign in Oswiecim, Poland on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. The sign was stolen from the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in...   (AP Photo/ Jarek Praszkiewicz)
This image taken Jan. 28, 2011 shows conservation worker Andrzej Jastrzebowski as he prepares to take photographs of the gate sign of the death camp in the modern laboratory at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Officials launched a global campaign to raise euro120 ($165 million) to create...
This image taken Jan. 28, 2011 shows conservation worker Andrzej Jastrzebowski as he prepares to take photographs of the gate sign of the death camp in the modern laboratory at the Nazi death camp...   (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
This image taken Jan. 28, 2011 shows conservation worker Andrzej Jastrzebowski, left, carrying the gate sign of the death camp in the modern laboratory of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Officials launched a global campaign to raise euro120 million ($165 million) to create a perpetual fund whose...
This image taken Jan. 28, 2011 shows conservation worker Andrzej Jastrzebowski, left, carrying the gate sign of the death camp in the modern laboratory of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim,...   (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
This photo taken Jan. 28, 2011 shows conservation workers Margrit Bormann, center, and Andrzej Jastrzebowski, right, renovating the gate sign of the death camp in a modern laboratory at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Officials launched a global campaign to raise euro120 million ($165 million) to...
This photo taken Jan. 28, 2011 shows conservation workers Margrit Bormann, center, and Andrzej Jastrzebowski, right, renovating the gate sign of the death camp in a modern laboratory at the Nazi death...   (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Muslim religious representatives walk through the entrance gate with the infamous German inscription 'Arbeit Macht Frei', (Work Sets You Free) in the former Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Oswiecim, Poland, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. A large number of Muslim dignitaries, joined by rabbis and Christian representatives came to Auschwitz to...
Muslim religious representatives walk through the entrance gate with the infamous German inscription 'Arbeit Macht Frei', (Work Sets You Free) in the former Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Oswiecim,...   (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
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Poland • Holocaust • Auschwitz • Arbeit Macht Frei

 
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