mscriv
Dec 18, 2009, 11:32 AM
OSWIECIM, Poland The Nazis' infamous iron sign declaring "Arbeit Macht Frei" German for "Work Sets You Free" was stolen Friday from the entrance of the former Auschwitz death camp, Polish police said.
The 5-meter-long (16-foot-long), 40-kilogram (90-pound) iron sign at the Holocaust memorial site in southern Poland was unscrewed on one side and torn off on the other, police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo said.
The theft from the entrance to the camp where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died during World War II brought condemnation worldwide.
"The theft of such a symbolic object is an attack on the memory of the Holocaust, and an escalation from those elements that would like to return us to darker days," Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said in a statement from Jerusalem.
"I call on all enlightened forces in the world who fight against anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and the hatred of the other, to join together to combat these trends."
The sign disappeared from the Auschwitz memorial between 3:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., Padlo said.
....
Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said he had trouble imagining who would steal the sign.
"If they are pranksters, they'd have to be sick pranksters, or someone with a political agenda. But whoever has done it has desecrated world memory," Schudrich said.
He said the theft could have been committed by neo-Nazi extremists, or even people scheming to sell the sign of the black market.
"There's a market for everything," he said, adding that it was "like stealing a Picasso. Even a hot Picasso you could try to move after 10 years but not this."
An exact replica of the sign, produced when the original received restoration work years ago, was quickly hung in its place.
....
The slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" appeared at the entrances of other Nazi camps, including Dachau and Sachsenhausen. The long curving sign at Auschwitz is considered the best known.
Today the Auschwitz site attracts more than 1 million visitors annually.
This week Germany pledged euro60 million ($87 million) half the estimated amount required to a new endowment that will fund long-term preservation work.
This was the first major act of vandalism at the site, which previously has suffered graffiti including spray-painted swastikas.
LINK (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091218/ap_on_re_eu/eu_poland_auschwitz_sign_stolen)
This is remarkably sad. The disrespect for history is shocking and the motive behind such action is puzzling.
The 5-meter-long (16-foot-long), 40-kilogram (90-pound) iron sign at the Holocaust memorial site in southern Poland was unscrewed on one side and torn off on the other, police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo said.
The theft from the entrance to the camp where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died during World War II brought condemnation worldwide.
"The theft of such a symbolic object is an attack on the memory of the Holocaust, and an escalation from those elements that would like to return us to darker days," Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said in a statement from Jerusalem.
"I call on all enlightened forces in the world who fight against anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and the hatred of the other, to join together to combat these trends."
The sign disappeared from the Auschwitz memorial between 3:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., Padlo said.
....
Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said he had trouble imagining who would steal the sign.
"If they are pranksters, they'd have to be sick pranksters, or someone with a political agenda. But whoever has done it has desecrated world memory," Schudrich said.
He said the theft could have been committed by neo-Nazi extremists, or even people scheming to sell the sign of the black market.
"There's a market for everything," he said, adding that it was "like stealing a Picasso. Even a hot Picasso you could try to move after 10 years but not this."
An exact replica of the sign, produced when the original received restoration work years ago, was quickly hung in its place.
....
The slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" appeared at the entrances of other Nazi camps, including Dachau and Sachsenhausen. The long curving sign at Auschwitz is considered the best known.
Today the Auschwitz site attracts more than 1 million visitors annually.
This week Germany pledged euro60 million ($87 million) half the estimated amount required to a new endowment that will fund long-term preservation work.
This was the first major act of vandalism at the site, which previously has suffered graffiti including spray-painted swastikas.
LINK (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091218/ap_on_re_eu/eu_poland_auschwitz_sign_stolen)
This is remarkably sad. The disrespect for history is shocking and the motive behind such action is puzzling.
