Part of the gate bearing the infamous slogan 'Arbeit macht frei' ('Work sets you free') went missing from Dachau concentration camp on Sunday, German police reported.
The disappearance of the gate, which measures 75 x 37 inches and
was set into a larger iron frame, was noticed by the site's
security officials early Sunday morning, according to a police
statement. To reach it during the night, the offender had to
climb over another gate, police said, adding that no trace of the
missing sign had been found in the immediate vicinity of the
camp.
The theft of the “central symbol for the prisoners'
ordeal" was condemned by memorial director Gabriele
Hammermann, who said that site officials had previously decided
against video surveillance of the World War II work camp, in
respect to all the people who suffered there.
Officials did not want to turn the memorial into a
"maximum-security unit," according to Hammermann, but
may now review the decision.
Dachau, located about 10 miles from Munich in southern Germany,
was the first concentration camp opened by the Nazis in 1933, and
was originally purposed for political prisoners. During the 12
years of its operation, more than 200,000 people from across
Europe were held there. Over 40,000 prisoners died at the camp.
The theft is not the first Nazi memorabilia to be stolen from
historic sites. In 2009, a similar "Arbeit macht frei" sign went
missing from the gate at Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
Police later discovered it cut into pieces on the other side of
the country. A Swedish man and several Poles were imprisoned for
the theft.
In 2011, an Israeli couple stole historic items from the
Auschwitz museum grounds. In 2012, an Italian was arrested at
Krakow airport for stealing a piece of barbed wire from the
former concentration camp site.