Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

Outrage over theft of Dachau concentration camp gate

-

Jewish leaders in Germany voiced outrage Monday over the theft of the gate to the former Nazi concentration camp Dachau with the chilling inscription "Arbeit macht frei" (Work will set you free).

Police said they were following leads but had no concrete information about the theft of the forged iron gate, discovered early Sunday at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial near the southern city of Munich.

"Whoever did this is either sick or evil. Probably both."

Holocaust survivor and vice president of the International Dachau Committee Max Mannheimer said he was "horrified that Nazis apparently desecrated the memorial to those murdered here and violated the reverence due to such a place".

The head of the memorial centre, Gabriele Hammermann, called the theft a "deliberate, reprehensible attempt to deny and obliterate the memory of the crimes committed in this place" which aimed "to demolish the memorial at its very core".

Police were examining whether neo-Nazis committed the crime, but were ready to follow all possible leads, said local police chief Thomas Rauscher.

The theft happened on the night of Saturday to Sunday, between the rounds of security guards watching the site which has no video surveillance system.

The gate of the former concentration camp in Dachau  with the inscription 'Work sets you free&a...
The gate of the former concentration camp in Dachau, with the inscription 'Work sets you free' (Arbeit macht frei), has been stolen
Christof Stache, AFP

- 'Attack against remembrance' -

The head of the memorial at the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, Piotr Cywinski, called the theft "an attack against a symbol, an attack against remembrance", said a statement by the Dachau memorial.

A sign with the same inscription at Auschwitz was stolen in 2009, sparking a global outcry. The mastermind of that theft, Swedish neo-Nazi Anders Hoegstroem, was caught and jailed for two and a half years.

The metal sign was eventually recovered cut up into three pieces, leading museum officials to display a replica above the entrance until it was restored in 2011.

The letters set inside the gate at Dachau were also a replica, dating from 1965, after the original slogan was removed from the gate after the US liberation of the camp at the end of World War II.

The slogan once aimed to present the concentration camp as a "work and re-education camp".

The sign above the entrance to the former Dachau concentration camp  reading
The sign above the entrance to the former Dachau concentration camp, reading "Work sets you free," was stolen overnight, police said Sunday
Guenter Schiffmann, AFP

"At the same time, these words denote the cynical attitude of the SS to the inmates, for forced labour was one of the primary means of terror in the concentration camps," the statement said.

The Dachau camp opened in 1933, less than two months after Adolf Hitler became German chancellor, as a prison camp for political prisoners.

It became a death camp during World War II, killing more than 41,000 Jews before it was liberated by US troops on April 29, 1945.

Some 800,000 visitors now visit the site each year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited Dachau last year, was due on Tuesday to accept an award from an association of Dachau survivors at an event in Berlin.

Jewish leaders in Germany voiced outrage Monday over the theft of the gate to the former Nazi concentration camp Dachau with the chilling inscription “Arbeit macht frei” (Work will set you free).

Police said they were following leads but had no concrete information about the theft of the forged iron gate, discovered early Sunday at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial near the southern city of Munich.

“Whoever did this is either sick or evil. Probably both.”

Holocaust survivor and vice president of the International Dachau Committee Max Mannheimer said he was “horrified that Nazis apparently desecrated the memorial to those murdered here and violated the reverence due to such a place”.

The head of the memorial centre, Gabriele Hammermann, called the theft a “deliberate, reprehensible attempt to deny and obliterate the memory of the crimes committed in this place” which aimed “to demolish the memorial at its very core”.

Police were examining whether neo-Nazis committed the crime, but were ready to follow all possible leads, said local police chief Thomas Rauscher.

The theft happened on the night of Saturday to Sunday, between the rounds of security guards watching the site which has no video surveillance system.

The gate of the former concentration camp in Dachau  with the inscription 'Work sets you free&a...

The gate of the former concentration camp in Dachau, with the inscription 'Work sets you free' (Arbeit macht frei), has been stolen
Christof Stache, AFP

– ‘Attack against remembrance’ –

The head of the memorial at the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, Piotr Cywinski, called the theft “an attack against a symbol, an attack against remembrance”, said a statement by the Dachau memorial.

A sign with the same inscription at Auschwitz was stolen in 2009, sparking a global outcry. The mastermind of that theft, Swedish neo-Nazi Anders Hoegstroem, was caught and jailed for two and a half years.

The metal sign was eventually recovered cut up into three pieces, leading museum officials to display a replica above the entrance until it was restored in 2011.

The letters set inside the gate at Dachau were also a replica, dating from 1965, after the original slogan was removed from the gate after the US liberation of the camp at the end of World War II.

The slogan once aimed to present the concentration camp as a “work and re-education camp”.

The sign above the entrance to the former Dachau concentration camp  reading

The sign above the entrance to the former Dachau concentration camp, reading “Work sets you free,” was stolen overnight, police said Sunday
Guenter Schiffmann, AFP

“At the same time, these words denote the cynical attitude of the SS to the inmates, for forced labour was one of the primary means of terror in the concentration camps,” the statement said.

The Dachau camp opened in 1933, less than two months after Adolf Hitler became German chancellor, as a prison camp for political prisoners.

It became a death camp during World War II, killing more than 41,000 Jews before it was liberated by US troops on April 29, 1945.

Some 800,000 visitors now visit the site each year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited Dachau last year, was due on Tuesday to accept an award from an association of Dachau survivors at an event in Berlin.

AFP
Written By

With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

You may also like:

Social Media

Wanna buy some ignorance? You’re in luck.

Tech & Science

Under new legislation that passed the House of Representatives last week, TikTok could be banned in the United States.

Life

Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest often suggest travel destinations based on your likes and viewing habits.

Social Media

From vampires and wendigos to killer asteroids, TikTok users are pumping out outlandish end-of-the-world conspiracy theories.