3 Jailed For Auschwitz Sign Theft

Three men have been convicted by a Krakow court for stealing the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign that hung above the entrance of the former Auschwitz death camp.

Five polish men were arrested for the theft of the sign, with two remaining in custody. According to the BBC, there was no trial for these three men as they all admitted to the theft and agreed to settlements. They received jail sentences that range between eighteen months and two-and-a-half years. The men, two of whom are brothers, were identified by the court only as Radoslaw M., Lukasz M. and Pawel S. in keeping with Polish privacy laws, reported the Associated Press. As well as the remaining two men in custody who are under investigation, a Swedish former neo-Nazi leader has also been accused of playing a part in the crime. Anders Hogstrom, 34, was arrested in Stockholm in February and charged with instigating the theft. A Stockholm district court has allowed Mr Hogstrom to be extradited to Poland for his trial, on the basis that should he be convicted he will serve any prison sentence in Sweden. In 1994 Mr Hogstrom helped found the National Socialist Front, a far-right organisation, but left the group later on. The court has allowed him three weeks to appeal, a course his lawyer thinks is likely. Mr Hogstrom has denied his involvement, saying he got in touch with Polish authorities when he found out it had been stolen as he had been contacted to sell the sign. "I have [in] no way committed a crime. On the contrary. I have made sure that this sign could be returned," he is quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. The sign was stolen on 18 December, between the hours of 3.30am and 5.00am. It weighs 40kg and was five metres long. It had been half-unscrewed, half-torn from above the site’s gate. When found a month later, it had been cut into three pieces in order to transport it easily. Investigators believe that the men were petty thieves carrying out the theft for a commission. The reaction to the crime was felt worldwide, with the director of Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Avner Shalev, condemning the theft as “a true declaration of war”. “It is more than just stealing something. It is a desecration.” Jarek Mensfelt from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum told the BBC. A copy of the sign was placed above the gates and will remain until the original is fixed. The sign translates to “work sets you free” and is a potent symbol for the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany. The slogan was also set above the entrances of Dachau and Sachsenhausen and other German Nazi camps, though these are less well-known. Over a million people were murdered in Auschwitz by Nazis during World War II, 90% of which were Jews. The camp has been run as a state museum since 1947, receiving more a million visitors a year. Just before the theft, the German government pledged €60 million to help preserve the camp for future generations.