Sign Recovery

The “Arbeit macht frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz on Friday has been recovered in Northern Poland and five men are now being questioned by police. “The five suspects, aged in their 20s and 30s, were not members of a neo-Nazi group, Krakow police said. The metal sign from the main gate, which symbolises for many the atrocities of Nazi Germany, had been cut into three pieces, they added. A major search was launched after the sign was stolen before dawn on Friday. Andrzej Rokita, the local police chief in Krakow – where the men were being questioned – said the theft had been financially motivated, and it remained unclear whether it was carried out to order. ‘From the information we have, none of the five belong to a neo-Nazi group nor hold such ideas,’ Andrzej Rokita said of the suspects. The sign’s theft had caused outrage in Israel and among Polish politicians.”