The "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign theft from Oswiecim, Poland

The Auschwitz sign theft was commissioned by a British collector

Gazeta Wyborcza after Sunday Mirror:

Citing sources in Sweden letter does not mention the names of the alleged collector , says only that it is very rich and that he wanted to have a sign in your possession , as treated by him as a trophy .

- It was found that the inscription ( after transporting him to Sweden ) will be hidden in the basement of Stockholm , where the Briton will pick it up . The plan was that the money received by the Swedes for arranging finance the neo-Nazi groups in Sweden - weekly quotes its source .

The extreme right in Sweden had planned disruption of this year's general elections in the country.

Swedish neo-nazis were acting as a go-between, however, it was one of them who panicked and informed the Polish police about the place where the sign was hidden. I'm starting a new thread as the previous one on the subject is closed.

damn you brits. havent you stolen enough during the imperial age?

I needed a new gate :/

Have they caught the Brit who ordered this theft...?

They say that at the moment Interpol is collecting evidence against him, so I think he hasn't been arrested yet. They don't give his name, just say that he's very rich and wanted to have the sign as a kind of a trophy.

Here's the link in English:

mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/03/auschwitz-sign-was-stolen-for-wealthy-british-nazi-115875-21937555/

damn, thats probably something that no one expected to hear.

There are a lot of people all over the world very angry ay this theft , the people involved are likely to get a rough time from society....If i was the guy who organised this theft i would be handing myself in at the nearest Police station and asking for protection...

only assuming that hes not spending his time in Israel right now

The funny thing is that loads of nazis say it's all fake anyway, so why would he want a fake thing?

Well , its possible the Mossad boys have taken him for a holiday there , but more likely somebody already in the UK will be looking for him...

there are also many neo-nazis who would gladly protect him and make him their hero

and there is 99% of the world population that dont give a fcuk. and im not trying to be rude and ignorant or whatsoever.

Well , it won,t be the Swedish nazi group who sh1t their pants when things got a bit hot...

strzyga

Seems a bit tenuous, if he hasn't been arrested. I wonder what the truth really is here.

We'll see in a couple of days, probably.
Anyway I suppose he's under close observation now so can't escape or try anything funny.

I'm not sure exactly how credible the Sunday Mirror is, however the article is marked as exclusive so they must have some unofficial info sources. It's hard to believe they've made it all up having nothing better to do on a slow Sunday morning.

This is old news, the story first appeared in a Danish paper and was picked up by others during the week.

the British collector is a new part though

Maybe they should lock him up in Auswich...then he can look at the sign as much as he wants..?

The new sign reads: "Wenn der Sohn Ihnen Freiheit gibt, dann sind Sie wirklich frei"

I didn't see a post regarding this so here it is:

Three jailed over Auschwitz sign theft: report


Jail time for theft? Is this common in poland? Or did they get jailed because of the significance of the sign or maybe they had previous run ins with the law?

don't you think so...?

It should be common in all countries.

it is.

Have you been to the UK?

And the guys who stole the sign have apparently skipped out on their jail sentence....


I heard they were on their way to the UK.

Merged thread:
Arbeit Macht Frei Sign

I will be visiting Krakow in early February. I will be spending a day at Auschwitz and was wondering if the original "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign is back up, or is it still a replica? Thanks all.

the original is back up

You are not thinking of pinching it are you....?

The present sign is a replica. It is not certain the original sign will go back up.

Merged thread:
Arbeit Macht Frei sign

I will be visiting Auschwitz on January 22 and was informed here on PF that the original Arbeit Macht Frei sign was back in place at Auschwitz. However, in a recent story regarding this, the article stated that a temporary sign was in its place. Which is true? (Is there anything special happening there on the 27th of January to mark the 66th anniversary of the libertion of the camp)? Thank you.