Netanyahu: Poland must find stolen Auschwitz sign
Still no clues two days after theft; conspiracy theories abound over whereabouts of sign.
By Dana Weiler-Polak and Lily Galili Tags: Holocaust Israel newsPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the Polish government on Sunday to track down the Nazi sign stolen from the entrance of the Auschwitz death camp memorial.
The sign, stolen on Friday from the death camp in Poland, has the infamous saying Arbeit Macht Frei - Work sets you free.
Netanyahu stressed the historical importance the sign has to Jews, saying that Poland must find those who desecrated the place where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War II.
Meanwhile, there are still no clues 48 hours after the theft.
While Poland is enlisting its finest investigators to solve the crime, its bizarreness is proving fertile ground for conspiracy theories on the Internet and in official responses.
Three of the usual suspects were immediately mentioned: the Jews, the Germans and the Russians. The infamous metal sign is so linked with the Jewish people, it has been said, it must be on its way to Jerusalem. Another theory: The Russians want to embarrass the Poles - or maybe the Poles wanted to embarrass the Russians before the 65th anniversary in January of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army. The Germans are suspected of wanting to bring home something that belongs to them, in their opinion.
There are four main avenues of investigation: hooliganism or sale for scrap metal or an act of neo-Nazism or a service for an art collector. The theft may also be the work of nationalist elements upset by the plan to invest more funds in renovating the site.
The police are working on sealing Poland's borders to prevent the historic sign from being spirited out of the country. The sign is symbolic not only for Jews, but also for the Poles, as one of their most important symbols of World War II and the destruction of the Polish people.
The director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial museum, visibly shaken, said he believes the theft was the work of professionals. "I think it was done by specialists," Piotr Cywinski said. "It was a very well-prepared action."
British historian Andrew Roberts said the sign would generate huge interest on the burgeoning market for Nazi memorabilia.
The phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei" appeared at the entrances of other Nazi camps, including Dachau and Sachsenhausen, but the long, curving sign at Auschwitz was the best known.
Friday, President Shimon Peres met with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Copenhagen and asked him to take all necessary measures to capture the thieves and to restore the sign to its rightful place. "The sign has deep historical significance to the Jewish people and to the entire world. It serves as a memorial for more than a million Jews who were exterminated at Auschwitz," Peres said.
Tusk said his government is putting all its efforts in investigating the theft, which is being treated as top priority. "The sign's theft is a very serious act, and it is as painful for us as it is for you," Tusk said.
"I am shocked and outraged by the theft of a recognizable symbol of Nazi cynicism and cruelty," Polish President Lech Kaczynski said in a statement, who appealed "to all my compatriots" to help the authorities.
Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein said that "this is oneof the Polish police's biggest failures," adding that" anti-Semitic events in the world are multiplying, and there is valid fear for the safety of the Jews in the Diaspora." Noah Flug, who heads an umbrella organization of Holocaust survivors' advocacy groups in Israel, said he hopes the Polish police direct major efforts to solving the crime and bringing the perpetrators to justice. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles urged Poland to intensify its investigation and bring the thieves to justice. Its founder, Marvin Hier, said the sign was "the defining symbol" of the Holocaust.
Foreign Ministry official Yossi Levy said Israel was "astounded and angry" about the theft at Auschwitz. He said: "Israel has full faith in the Polish authorities in charge of the investigation, and believes that the Polish police will apprehend the inhuman thieves and restore the sign to its place to serve as a chilling testimony of the horrors committed at the camp." Police are offering 5,000 zlotys ($1,700) for information about the theft; the private security firm Art-Security group is offering double that, and the museum itself offered a 100,000-zloty ($34,000-dollar) reward for information, a spokesman said late Friday.
"This [theft] is very saddening," said Jaroslaw Mensfelt, the museum's spokesman. "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."
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| Photo by: (AP) |
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just a lazy bunch of alcoholics with no brain hoping to get money for vodka, I'm Polish-Jewish my self and I'm ashamed of this, I don't think that it has anything to do with antisemitism.The question is where where the security? most probably also drank.Polish gov has a lot to answer.
Although this was not one, I do believe we could reduce crimes by neo-nazis if we'd allow them to communicate in words more, so they feel they must resort to actions less. In America, if you accuse Jews of anything the mass media accuses hillbillies of, it's anti-Semitism, yet Jews are so much more powerful in Hollywood than poor whites. For instance, Disney changed history surprisingly and unnecessarily in A Christmas Carol when a woman asks Scrooge ?are there no workhouses?? while behaving slutty. This not only makes the movie less appropriate for children, but removes the important history lesson of what ?workhouses? were back in those days. Many Dickens? tales discuss workhouses, cause he spent time in one as a youth. The tale of Oliver Twist begins with the boy in one. He?s not a prostitute, he?s an orphaned boy victimized by the Poor Laws, waiting to be enslaved. Happened in America also, and these child slaves have descendants today. That denial hurts too.
Thanks Dan - you have inadvertently alerted the rest of us to serious shortcomings within the Chicago education system.
Perhaps it's being reinstalled in a place where it will feel more at home.
Israel keeps telling the world what they "must" do. Guess what the world is getting deaf to Israel telling them what they MUST do.
I agree
It looks like Mossads work.Israel didn't offer any money for the recovery, must already be at Yad Vashem.
This first one should never have been made as the hole place, don't make a second one !
First we have "holocaust denial" now we have an international furor over a missing sign. These "victimless crimes" would not amount to much normally, but Judaism international pressures the world to put Jewish interests above all else. These are not critical issues, but it does provide a good training opportunity for future issues.
I'm not sure how you missed the sarcasm in her message.
who cares, many things much more urgent than this
Maybe the whole thing is just a stunt to publicise the upcoming "65th anniversary in January of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army"! What a smart marketing move!
Who else has the expertise in such matters? Motive: orders from Nethanyahu to take the spotlight off Israel's war crimes and go back to the days when Jews were the victims.
Replica sign has been replaced immediately, few hours after the theft.
The world we live is not as we want it to be, there are SICK,BAD,criminals etc etc.... I do not think we are going to live in PEACE and Harmoney. That is a childs dream and growen up man nightmare.
"...so replacing it quickly without hesitation is the best thing the Polish government can do..." The stolen sign has already been replaced with a replica that was used once before when the original was taken down for restoration. Who knows, maybe the original has been gone for a long time. "The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles urged Poland to intensify its investigation and bring the thieves to justice. Its founder, Marvin Hier, said the sign was "the defining symbol" of the Holocaust." Since the self-serving Wiesenthal Center has millions of dollars at its disposal why don't they put up a very large reward? Maybe they care more about spreading their "anti-Semitism is everywhere" propaganda than they do the sign.
Very unfortunate, but whoever did it, to burn in hell not just himself, but his whol family. In that camp, families were murdered, therefore is natural to retaliate as the europeans say. with the same level of force. Poor shmoks they can not tolerate Israel to have the upper hand.
Those who stole the sign will only have achieved the opposite of what they set out to do. The current replacement will either be left as is or a second replacement will be made. The story of the stealing of the sign will only help the younger generations understand that anti-Semitism is very much alive and that Jews should be on their guard.
It is quite a shame that the original "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign at the entry gates to Auschwitz forced labor camp has been stolen. However, the right thing to do in this situation is to retain the integrity of the museum by replacing the sign with a replica immediately. The chilling effect that the sign evokes is not diminished by its origin. There is a plethora of documentary evidence of the signs existence so replacing it quickly without hesitation is the best thing the Polish government can do while running a parallel theft/vandalism investigation.
It must be Palestinians? That is a ridiculous statement made by a paranoid ignorant person, or extremely cynical. Either way, I think it's safe to say this theft has NOTHING to do with the Palestinians
What the heck is anyone going to do with it? Put it over their driveway? No one can move it or use it without it being recognized.
Probably people in Gaza who sneaked out when nobody was looking.