The iron sign bearing the Nazi slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" that spanned the main entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp was stolen before dawn today, Polish police said.
The sign with the German words for "Work Sets You Free" is believed to have been stolen from the gates of the Auschwitz memorial between 3.30am and 5am, when museum guards noticed it was missing and alerted authorities, a police spokeswoman, Katarzyna Padlo, said.
The wide iron sign across a gate at the main entrance to the former Nazi death camp in southern Poland, where more than 1 million people died during the second world war, was unscrewed on one side and pulled off on the other, Padlo said.
Criminal investigators and search dogs were sent to the grounds of the vast former death camp, where barracks, watchtowers and the ruins of gas chambers still stand as testament to the atrocities inflicted by Nazi Germany on Jews, Gypsies and others.
Padlo said there were no suspects but police were pursuing several theories.
Another police spokesman told TVP Info television: "The whole area is under surveillance. There are many cameras there. We are now analysing the film. I hope we will find the trail."
Jaroslaw Mensfelt, the museum's spokesman, told the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza the theft was "very saddening".
"The thieves either didn't know where they were or – what's even worse – they did know but that didn't prevent them from stealing," he said.
Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the museum authorities had already replaced the sign with a replica, which was used briefly a few years ago when the original was being repaired.
The slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" was used at the entrances to other Nazi camps, including Dachau and Sachensenhausen, but the long curving sign at Auschwitz is perhaps the best known.
More than a million people visit the Auschwitz site every year, but the barracks and other structures are in a state of disrepair and Polish authorities have been struggling to find the funds to carry out conservation work. This week, Germany pledged €60m to an endowment that will fund long-term preservation work – half the amount that Auschwitz memorial museum officials say is needed.
The sign with the German words for "Work Sets You Free" is believed to have been stolen from the gates of the Auschwitz memorial between 3.30am and 5am, when museum guards noticed it was missing and alerted authorities, a police spokeswoman, Katarzyna Padlo, said.
The wide iron sign across a gate at the main entrance to the former Nazi death camp in southern Poland, where more than 1 million people died during the second world war, was unscrewed on one side and pulled off on the other, Padlo said.
Criminal investigators and search dogs were sent to the grounds of the vast former death camp, where barracks, watchtowers and the ruins of gas chambers still stand as testament to the atrocities inflicted by Nazi Germany on Jews, Gypsies and others.
Padlo said there were no suspects but police were pursuing several theories.
Another police spokesman told TVP Info television: "The whole area is under surveillance. There are many cameras there. We are now analysing the film. I hope we will find the trail."
Jaroslaw Mensfelt, the museum's spokesman, told the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza the theft was "very saddening".
"The thieves either didn't know where they were or – what's even worse – they did know but that didn't prevent them from stealing," he said.
Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the museum authorities had already replaced the sign with a replica, which was used briefly a few years ago when the original was being repaired.
The slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" was used at the entrances to other Nazi camps, including Dachau and Sachensenhausen, but the long curving sign at Auschwitz is perhaps the best known.
More than a million people visit the Auschwitz site every year, but the barracks and other structures are in a state of disrepair and Polish authorities have been struggling to find the funds to carry out conservation work. This week, Germany pledged €60m to an endowment that will fund long-term preservation work – half the amount that Auschwitz memorial museum officials say is needed.
