http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jhpYReZvj_AXA9lKGG59sF78nWGAD9CLODRO0
QuotePolice: Auschwitz 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign stolen
By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and KRZYSZTOF KOPACZ (AP) – 1 hour ago
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 immediate 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.
Police deployed 50 investigators and a search dog to the Auschwitz grounds, where barracks, watchtowers and ruins of gas chambers still stand as testament to the atrocities inflicted by Nazi Germany.
Police were reviewing footage from Auschwitz's surveillance cameras to see if the theft was recorded.
Auschwitz museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt said the thieves carried the sign 300 meters (yards) to an opening in a barbed-wire gap in a concrete wall. That opening had been left intentionally to preserve a poplar tree dating back to the time of the war.
The sniffer dog led police to a spot outside the wall where the sign left an imprint in freshly fallen snow, then to a roadside where the sign appeared to have been loaded onto a getaway vehicle.
In Brussels, European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek appealed to the thieves to return the sign.
"Give it back out of respect for the suffering of over a million victims, murdered in this Nazi camp, the biggest cemetery of humankind," Buzek said.
An exact replica of the sign, produced when the original received restoration work years ago, was quickly hung in its place.
Padlo said police were offering a 5,000-zloty ($1,700) reward for public tipoffs about the thieves.
In Jerusalem, the International Auschwitz Committee said the theft "deeply unsettles the survivors."
"The sign has to be found," said Noach Flug, an Auschwitz survivor and president of the committee. "The slogan and the camp itself will tell what happened even when we won't be able to tell anymore."
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.
"Auschwitz has to stand intact because without it, we are without the world's greatest reminder — physical reminder — of what we are capable of doing to each other," he said.
After occupying Polandin 1939, the Nazis established the Auschwitz I camp in the southern Polish city of Oswiecim and initially used it for German political prisoners and non-Jewish Polish prisoners, who began arriving in June 1940.
Polish inmates made the original sign shortly thereafter in the camp's iron workshop, museum spokesman Pawel Sawicki said.
Two years later, hundreds of thousands of Jews began arriving by cattle trains to the wooden barracks of nearby Birkenau, also called Auschwitz II, where most were killed in gas chambers.
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.
However, the barracks and other structures were not built to last many decades and badly need repairs. 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.
Other Holocaust memorials have suffered neo-Nazi vandalism. Sachsenhausen on the outskirts of Berlin was attacked in 1992, when two barracks were set on fire. That crime remains unsolved.
Any Languishites currently in the Cracow area? :unsure:
Also, will the sign be: replaced?
Maybe after working for 60+ years, the sign has finally paid its debt and went free?
Maybe they could replace it with corporate sponsorship?
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmembers.arstechnica.com%2Fx%2Fdigitali%2FArbys_Macht_Fries.jpg&hash=8722880e237223d8a63fcb349b8fcaa39e19ee6d)
I've had jobs since I was 16 years old. Work doesn't really make you free <_<
Quote from: derspiess on December 18, 2009, 10:32:56 AM
I've had jobs since I was 16 years old. Work doesn't really make you free <_<
You mean the Nazis were wrong? :mad:
Quote from: Josephus on December 18, 2009, 11:00:57 AM
You mean the Nazis were wrong? :mad:
I can only speak for my own experience, but I'm starting think that slogan may have not been 100% true in all cases :(
Quote from: Josephus on December 18, 2009, 11:00:57 AM
Quote from: derspiess on December 18, 2009, 10:32:56 AM
I've had jobs since I was 16 years old. Work doesn't really make you free <_<
You mean the Nazis were wrong? :mad:
Yeah big surprise there..... but they did get Autobahns right (for all the wrong reasons though)
It'd be pretty cool to have that sign hanging in my family room, I have to admit :ph34r:
Quote from: Valmy on December 18, 2009, 10:16:14 AM
Maybe they could replace it with corporate sponsorship?
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmembers.arstechnica.com%2Fx%2Fdigitali%2FArbys_Macht_Fries.jpg&hash=8722880e237223d8a63fcb349b8fcaa39e19ee6d)
I could totally go for some Auschwitz Curly Fries right about now
How on earth could they manage this?
Auschwitz is a rather major tourist spot...
And unscrewing a 60 year old screw?
Quote from: Tyr on December 18, 2009, 03:27:11 PM
And unscrewing a 60 year old screw?
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjasonkarpf.files.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F07%2Fwd40.jpg&hash=240efaacbbe08ab08d6128d22992eec3abcb368b)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toolnet.co.za%2Fimages%2F47641.jpg&hash=dec304ed923dd09e130338b3f7aaf5f7cab620bd)
I was thinking the same thing? :lol:
It's a replica anyway. The Nazis took the original with them to the Moon.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 18, 2009, 03:32:31 PM
I was thinking the same thing? :lol:
It amuses me how utterly lacking in practical knowledge today's youth are. :)
"Today's youth" presumably has the Auschwitz sign hanging over its frat house den right now. ;)
Nein. They would not know how to remove 60 year old screws.
Notice how derspiess refrains from stating the Nazis were wrong, just focuses on a singular statement.
Fucking sick is what that man is.
Quote from: Jaron on December 18, 2009, 04:15:29 PM
Notice how derspiess refrains from stating the Nazis were wrong, just focuses on a singular statement.
Fucking sick is what that man is.
Nevertheless, the past couple of days have shown that at Languish, it's safer to be fucking sick than fucking retarded. What's your excuse? :P
Quote from: Caliga on December 18, 2009, 03:44:52 PM
It amuses me how utterly lacking in practical knowledge today's youth are. :)
Actually maybe I wasn't. Is that screwdriver the one that drills into screws? That was my first thought.
Quote from: Caliga on December 18, 2009, 03:44:52 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 18, 2009, 03:32:31 PM
I was thinking the same thing? :lol:
It amuses me how utterly lacking in practical knowledge today's youth are. :)
That's not exactly a fair generalization. You were responding to a poster who lacks practical knowledge in almost everything.
And theoritical knowledge in most things, too, come to think of it.
It'll turn up within the week.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 18, 2009, 04:52:45 PM
Actually maybe I wasn't. Is that screwdriver the one that drills into screws? That was my first thought.
The second pic is an impact driver, and yes I have one. :handyman:
I'd rather have Big Boy or an original Taco Bell sign.
Quote from: Ed Anger on December 18, 2009, 07:30:12 PM
I'd rather have Big Boy or an original Taco Bell sign.
Oh ,hells yeah. Bob's Big Boy. That fucker will haunt me until he's in my yard.
We still have those around here. :cool: They call them "Frisch's Big Boy", but they're exactly the same as I remember Bob's Big Boy's were in the northeast.
Quote from: Caliga on December 18, 2009, 07:48:21 PM
We still have those around here. :cool: They call them "Frisch's Big Boy", but they're exactly the same as I remember Bob's Big Boy's were in the northeast.
"Big Boy" isn't really a restaurant chain in the normal sense, or even a franchise. It was more like a joint venture among several restaurant chains. So it goes by several different names, which were mostly just the name of the individual chain before it joined up, put in the possesive tense, and with the words "Big Boy" added. Most of the larger chains involved left eventually; they had to quit using the "Big Boy" name, and also agree not to sell a triple-decker hamburger.
I could really use a McFuhrer. :mmm:
Quote from: dps on December 18, 2009, 07:56:16 PM
"Big Boy" isn't really a restaurant chain in the normal sense, or even a franchise. It was more like a joint venture among several restaurant chains. So it goes by several different names, which were mostly just the name of the individual chain before it joined up, put in the possesive tense, and with the words "Big Boy" added. Most of the larger chains involved left eventually; they had to quit using the "Big Boy" name, and also agree not to sell a triple-decker hamburger.
Some of those survive in highway rest stops, the way Roy Rogers survived the NJ pullout with its NJ Turnpike locations... last time I went to Baltimore, we ended up eating at a Bob's Big Boy along I-95 by the DE/MD border.
I miss Roy's. :cry:
I miss the old Burger Chef. :cry:
The sign has been recovered.
It's been cut into three pieces. <_<
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34503643/ns/world_news-europe/
My guess is that they stole it in order to claim a ransom, most likely becourse the German government just have offered a large sum of money to the restoration of the camp...
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 20, 2009, 09:01:54 PM
The sign has been recovered.
It's been cut into three pieces. <_<
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34503643/ns/world_news-europe/
Get the original put it in a museum and make a replica and put it back in Auschwitz. Easy peasy.
Quote from: Mr.Penguin on December 21, 2009, 10:10:27 AM
My guess is that they stole it in order to claim a ransom, most likely becourse the German government just have offered a large sum of money to the restoration of the camp...
"...on ze condition dat ze gas chambers vill be... fully operational." :menace:
Quote from: Mr.Penguin on December 21, 2009, 10:10:27 AM
My guess is that they stole it in order to claim a ransom, most likely becourse the German government just have offered a large sum of money to the restoration of the camp...
What are they planning to do? Put in energy-efficient ovens?
Quote from: DGuller on December 21, 2009, 10:58:57 AM
Quote from: Mr.Penguin on December 21, 2009, 10:10:27 AM
My guess is that they stole it in order to claim a ransom, most likely becourse the German government just have offered a large sum of money to the restoration of the camp...
What are they planning to do? Put in energy-efficient ovens?
Maybe restoration should be renovation, you know english is hard... :blush:
Quote from: Caliga on December 21, 2009, 10:48:41 AM
Quote from: Mr.Penguin on December 21, 2009, 10:10:27 AM
My guess is that they stole it in order to claim a ransom, most likely becourse the German government just have offered a large sum of money to the restoration of the camp...
"...on ze condition dat ze gas chambers vill be... fully operational." :menace:
I remember when on the WW2 anniversary celebration this year, there were two headlines on the first page of a Polish (liberal and very pro-Israel/Jewish, so I think it was just a very bad coincidence) newspaper: "Germans reluctant to give Poles the Auschwitz plans" and "Putin says 'no' to the gas supply deal with Poland". :face:
Quote from: DGuller on December 21, 2009, 10:58:57 AM
Quote from: Mr.Penguin on December 21, 2009, 10:10:27 AM
My guess is that they stole it in order to claim a ransom, most likely becourse the German government just have offered a large sum of money to the restoration of the camp...
What are they planning to do? Put in energy-efficient ovens?
We need to reduce the CO2 emissions. :contract:
It seems the "collector" who commissioned the theft is a Swede.
I can already think of several suspects. :ph34r:
Quote from: Martinus on December 22, 2009, 02:59:42 AM
It seems the "collector" who commissioned the theft is a Swede.
I can already think of several suspects. :ph34r:
:lol:
The theft was apparently ordered by someone from Sweden.
Slargos :mad:
Why would Swedes need the sign? Are they running out of raw materials for ball bearings?
Quote from: DGuller on December 22, 2009, 08:53:33 AM
Why would Swedes need the sign? Are they running out of raw materials for ball bearings?
To fund Neo-Nazi terrorist acts.
No really.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6967449.ece
QuoteThe Nazi gang that ordered the theft of the infamous 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign from the gates of Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland planned to sell it to fund violent attacks against the Swedish Prime Minister and Parliament, it was claimed today.
A spokesman for the Swedish security police confirmed that the authorities were taking seriously a threat by a militant Nazi group to disrupt national elections next year.
"We are aware of the information about the alleged attack plans," said Patrik Peter, the security police spokesman.
"We have taken actions. We view this seriously."
The wrought-iron sign, whose inscription – translated as 'Work sets you free' – was viewed by hundreds of thousands of Jews as they entered the Nazi death camp where they met their deaths during the Second World War. It was stolen from the camp – now a museum – last Friday, provoking worldwide expressions of dismay and revulsion.
It was recovered on Monday, hacked into three pieces and wrapped in cloth. Police suspect that it was initially hidden in woodland before being transferred to a builder's yard where it was found.
Allegations concerning who ordered the theft, and why, have surfaced today in Swedish newspaper reports after the former leader of a Swedish Nazi group claimed that it had been stolen to order for a collector in England, France or the United States.
"We had a person who was ready to pay millions for the sign," the unnamed source told Aftonbladet, Sweden's biggest-selling daily newspaper.
The Nazi source said that the money would pay for an attack on the home of Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish Prime Minister who has held the rotating presidency of the European Union for the last six months, and on the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the paper reported.
A third attack allegedly involved plans to bombard Swedish MPs from the public seats of the parliament.
"The sign was to be delivered to Sweden, since it was here the deal should be made," the source said. "My role was to find a buyer. We had a person who was willing to pay millions but he had no political agenda. These things have a huge collector value... The biggest collectors are from England, the United States and France."
The source allegedly said that five men were to be paid for carrying out the theft. He reportedly insisted that he personally was not guilty of any crime as the deal had not been completed. Aftonbladet reported that he had been convicted several times in connection with his Nazi affiliation, and that he had made repeated visits to Poland.
Polish television has reported that police were investigation a Swedish connection in the theft of the Auschwitz sign. Mr Peter said that no arrests had yet been made.
"A prosecutor has been informed and the Government offices have been informed," said Mr Peter. He declined to discuss any details of the attack plans.
Five men, aged between 20 and 39, from the Torun area of northern Poland, have been arrested for the theft of the sign. The decisive tip-off came in one of 120 calls to a police hotline over the weekend. The museum had offered a £23,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the sign. The caller gave enough information for all five suspects to be rounded up within three hours.
Andrzej Rokita, the deputy commander of Cracow police, described them as non-political. All had previous convictions for theft or assault.
They are being interrogated in Cracow, the city responsible for the nearby Auschwitz camp museum. If charges are pressed, they could face up to ten years in jail for the "theft of a cultural treasure of particular significance".
Museum authorities are urging the police to release the three portions of the sign so that they can be re-erected before the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp next month. In the meantime, a replica has been placed over the entrance.
Well it's nice that Hortlund's political career is taking off.
Quote from: Martinus on December 21, 2009, 02:19:22 PM
Quote from: DGuller on December 21, 2009, 10:58:57 AM
Quote from: Mr.Penguin on December 21, 2009, 10:10:27 AM
My guess is that they stole it in order to claim a ransom, most likely becourse the German government just have offered a large sum of money to the restoration of the camp...
What are they planning to do? Put in energy-efficient ovens?
We need to reduce the CO2 emissions. :contract:
It's a good thing we have very eco minded energy providers. This ad was in the local newspaper a few years ago:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcritic.typepad.com%2Fphotos%2Funcategorized%2Feon.jpg&hash=a13170eacfdea82864942b790e1dbe1b310003dc)
E.on cares today for the gas of tomorrow!
Quote from: Razgovory on December 25, 2009, 09:19:51 PM
Well it's nice that Hortlund's political career is taking off.
:lol:
Quote from: syk on December 26, 2009, 03:24:14 AM
It's a good thing we have very eco minded energy providers. This ad was in the local newspaper a few years ago:
Do you live in Lüneburg, Syk? I was there in '92. Actually, I stayed in an apartment in Reppenstedt.
Quote from: citizen k on December 26, 2009, 03:50:20 AM
Quote from: syk on December 26, 2009, 03:24:14 AM
It's a good thing we have very eco minded energy providers. This ad was in the local newspaper a few years ago:
Do you live in Lüneburg, Syk? I was there in '92. Actually, I stayed in an apartment in Reppenstedt.
Near Lüneburg, but yes. :)