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

Metal sign was mutilated by thieves
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 18, 2011 12:02 PM CDT
Notorious Auschwitz Sign Repaired After 2009 Theft
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 together....   (AP Photo/ Jarek Praszkiewicz)

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. (More Auschwitz stories.)

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