This is terrible!
The sign above the entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp in Poland reading “Arbeit Macht Frei [Work Sets You Free]” was stolen on Friday!
The 16-ft sign, displaying a cynical Nazi slogan, sat atop the entrance of the Auschwitz death camp while over 1 million people were killed from behind its gates during the Holocaust.
“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,” said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev, directorate of the The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority.
“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,” Shalev concluded in his statement from Jerusalem.
Although many fear the sign was stolen by “pranksters,” British author and historian Andrew Roberts believes the sign may have been taken by collectors of Nazi paraphernalia.
“This is the biggest thing to happen in that sinister black market in a long time,” said Roberts. “I fear that this being the ultimate image of the Holocaust that it’s been stolen to order by a collector of Nazi paraphernalia.”
Polish authorities are offering a $34,000 reward to anyone who can offer information on the disappearance of the sign.
We hope the conscience of whoever stole the sign gets the best of them and they return it ASAP!
[Image via AP Images.]
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