# Auschwitz "Arbeit Macht Frei" Sign Stolen **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804 "2009-12-18T23:31:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/21 "2009-12-19T07:57:09Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **Argent Towers** , there is much to learn about ourselves and about government and powerful leaders from knowing about the Holocaust. That is not just a cliche. > > One classroom in Tennessee collected 11,000,000 paperclips (6,000,000 representing the Jewish dead) so that students could better comprehend the number of people murdered. I have, and will always have until the day I die, a biased view of this because I remember being in elementary school and the ONLY thing they taught the class about the Jews was the Holocaust. There was no mention of the Jewish people collectively in any other context - they were shown to us only as faceless, emaciated, naked corpses. It was terminally humiliating and made me bitterly resent the class’s harping on the Holocaust. I’ll never forget the feeling of being part of (what I saw as) a doomed race whose sole mention in our civilization’s history is as victims of an atrocity. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/22 "2009-12-19T07:57:37Z")
[A very lengthy article about the theft that details the barriers around the sign](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/19/world/AP-EU-Poland-Auschwitz-Sign-Stolen.html) - > [@](#): > > Working under the cover of darkness and timing their theft between regular security patrols, the culprits unscrewed the 90-pound steel banner on one side and tore it off on the other, then carried it 300 yards to an opening in a concrete wall. > > The opening, which had been left intentionally to preserve a poplar tree dating back to the war, was blocked by four metal bars, which the thieves cut That does seem like a lot of work for a prank, but some of the sources in the article suggest that if it’s not a political statement, the sign could have been stolen for a collector of stolen goods. And as far as a replacement: > [@](#): > > An exact replica of the sign, produced when the original underwent restoration work years ago, was quickly hung in its place. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/23 "2009-12-19T08:13:43Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Seems like people are still regularly killing each other based on religion and ethnicity, so I don’t think we’ve quite internalized the lesson there. War crimes don’t stop because we ‘learn lessons’. They stop because the technology and tactics of war change and the culture of war changes with them. Slavery, for example, used to be an accepted feature of war in the Western world: Raid the village, kill everyone able to fight back, and take the rest as cheap labor. It isn’t anymore, not because of any Grand Lesson but because the tactics and the technology have changed so it’s no longer plausible. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/24 "2009-12-19T08:15:39Z")
On one level I kind of admire the ballsiness of it. Like I would a well executed museum heist in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/25 "2009-12-19T08:21:20Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > War crimes don’t stop because we ‘learn lessons’. I was discussing war more than war crimes. Murder based on religion or ethnicity isn’t a tactic and it certainly still happens. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/26 "2009-12-19T09:53:35Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#): > > Why does it have to be neo-Nazis? > > I’m betting this was a drunken college prank…albeit an enormously tasteless one. > > Any universities near Auschwitz? I immediately suspected certain members of my sophomore German class. The ones who inscribed that very legend above our classroom door. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/27 "2009-12-19T10:28:20Z")
Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid has lost her head a few times - cause: drunken pranksters. Oslo’s Sinnataggen (“Angry Young Man”) has been stolen at least twice - cause: drunken pranksters. Any city that has a famous statue small enough to be stolen by two or three people likely has a similar story to tell, and usually the cause is: drunken pranksters. Admittedly neither of the examples I mentioned has anything like the historical or political significance of the Auschwitz sign, but my gut instinct is saying: Don’t rule out drunken pranksters. Perhaps somewhere in Poland, a group of college students woke up Friday morning after an end-of-exams party with a whopping hangover and a big, big problem… ---
**Author:** ![Neverending\_Elbow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e274bd/32.png) [@Neverending\_Elbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverending_Elbow)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/28 "2009-12-19T13:20:12Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Admittedly neither of the examples I mentioned has anything like the historical or political significance of the Auschwitz sign, but my gut instinct is saying: Don’t rule out drunken pranksters. Perhaps somewhere in Poland, a group of college students woke up Friday morning after an end-of-exams party with a whopping hangover and a big, big problem… The exam sessions aren’t for another month and a half, so that’s probably not that. Plus, the theft occurred between two internal museum security patrols, after the thieves forced a gate open, and were most probably moving by car. It seems planned, and not just a ‘Hey, dude, listen, I got this idea, what if we, are you with me?, what if we took that sign from Auschwitz, eh? That’d be like so awesome!’ kind of thing. I do hope it is returned safely. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/29 "2009-12-19T16:25:44Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Regardless of motive, I think we can agree that “stealing historical artifacts from a death camp preserved as a Holocaust memorial” makes someone a great big jerk. You’re not wrong, but now-a-days people, especially young people don’t put so much importance on such stuff. _The Simpsons_ even parodied this when Bart cuts the head off of the town founder’s statue A lot of the attitude is, “Oh who cares, we know it happened, stop living in the past.” After 65 years more or less, things tend to lose meaning, whether they deserve to or not ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/30 "2009-12-19T17:08:29Z")
I am keeping an eye on eBay in case it comes up. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/31 "2009-12-19T18:47:43Z")
What are you going to do, put it up in your living room? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/32 "2009-12-19T19:06:25Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > What are you going to do, put it up in your living room? The kids’ room. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/33 "2009-12-19T20:24:02Z")
It’s my suspicion that the original was, long ago, spirited away to some collectors private collection. This “fortunately, we happened to have a spare” thing kind of sounds a bit too convenient for me. hh ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/34 "2009-12-20T00:30:03Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I wish people in general and the Jews specifically would stop dwelling on the holocaust. Let the remnants of the Nazi death machine rust and fall apart and blow away in the wind, with the rest of history’s bad ideas. But then why do you thinks it’s been pounded in our heads since we were little kids? There must be some good reason why all the history books remind us to: _"Never for… "_ …ummmmm… uh, No… let’s see that’s, uh… _"Always… "_ …no wait… just gimme a second… it’ll come to me… Oh yeah…! It’s: _"Always don’t ever… "_ No, that’s not it, it’s… it’s… _“Never forever!”_ or, hrmmm… is it… _“Never foreskin?”_ …that’s not right it’s… ummmm… Scheiß!! It’s on the tip of my tongue! I feel like such a dummkopf, untermensch schmuck! Can I get a little help here? How could it slip my mind? I mean, it’s practically tattooed onto your arm in school because “everyone’s always dwelling on it”, yet I can’t seem to figure this out… if only I could think of the final solution to this problem! I was _sure_ I’d Never Forget! (Sigh…) Maybe you’re right, **Argent**. I mean, what’s six million Jews between friends? Those yammering, unforgiving, unforgetting Nazi-haters should get with the pogrom! ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/35 "2009-12-20T02:02:30Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > But then why do you thinks it’s been pounded in our heads since we were little kids? There must be some good reason why all the history books remind us to: > _"Never for… "_ …ummmmm… > uh, No… let’s see that’s, uh… > > _"Always… "_ > …no wait… just gimme a second… it’ll come to me… Oh yeah…! > It’s: _"Always don’t ever… "_ > No, that’s not it, it’s… it’s… > _“Never forever!”_ > or, hrmmm… is it… > _“Never foreskin?”_ > …that’s not right it’s… ummmm… Scheiß!! It’s on the tip of my tongue! > > I feel like such a dummkopf, untermensch schmuck! Can I get a little help here? How could it slip my mind? I mean, it’s practically tattooed onto your arm in school because “everyone’s always dwelling on it”, yet I can’t seem to figure this out… if only I could think of the final solution to this problem! I was _sure_ I’d Never Forget! > > (Sigh…) Maybe you’re right, **Argent**. I mean, what’s six million Jews between friends? Those yammering, unforgiving, unforgetting Nazi-haters should get with the pogrom! I’m not sure if this is hilarious or offensive… ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/36 "2009-12-20T06:37:32Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > I’m not sure if this is hilarious or offensive… Oh probably a prefect blend of both. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/37 "2009-12-20T07:44:07Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > You’re not wrong, but now-a-days people, especially young people don’t put so much importance on such stuff. > > _The Simpsons_ even parodied this when Bart cuts the head off of the town founder’s statue > > A lot of the attitude is, “Oh who cares, we know it happened, stop living in the past.” > > After 65 years more or less, things tend to lose meaning, whether they deserve to or not Eh, I am probably still within the “young people” range, and honestly, were it any number of other historical markers/memorials/etc, I probably wouldn’t really care. But - and I could be showing my bias here, since even though I’m not a Jew I was raised as such, and thus heard a lot about the Holocaust as a child - while that sign isn’t an important object in and of itself (after all, it could be a replica, and regardless it’s just an iron sign), it’s _function_ is incredibly important. That sign, and everything else that remains at that camp, is the only form of grave marker that a million and some people will ever have. And while I’m not a spiritual person, and certainly not someone who does cling to the past, I wouldn’t think to begrudge those affected of that memorial. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about the “never again” mindset (because…it has happened again, and is happening again, and no one’s doing much about it), but I think leaving the death camps as preserved as possible is a powerful statement: This happened here. Over a million people were murdered here. Because frankly, despite having read considerably in depth about the Holocaust, I still have no idea why anyone thinks that there’s anything to be added to that message. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/38 "2009-12-20T07:50:08Z")
The shit that the Nazis built is not worthy of being a monument. If this were a statue or monument to all those killed at Auschwitz (Jewish and Gentile) I would be pissed. As it is, it is simply something that the Nazis created, part of their evil war machine, and like everything the Nazis created, it deserves to float away and dissolve into history. Fuck it. Let it disintegrate, rot, be stolen, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/39 "2009-12-20T09:10:13Z")
**Argent Towers** , although we still disagree, I do see your point. If I were still teaching, I would change my presentation because of what you just said. But I would still be certain that my students did not leave my class ignorant of the Holocaust. I didn’t know about the Holocaust until I was about 18. That sounds strange, but it just wasn’t talked about where I lived in the 1950s. We had no Jews. I read **The Diary of Anne Frank** , but I did not fully understand what was going to happen to her. Then I read the book **I Cannot Forgive** and it just shook me up. In my post I also made a mistake in putting Rhodesia when I was thinking Rwanda. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804/40 "2009-12-20T10:53:40Z")
MPB in Salt Lake writes: \> The translation is “Work Will Make You Free” which the Nazi’s used to give a \> false sense of hope to their victims Actually, it was a general Nazi motto, not one aimed only at prisoners. It meant something like “Self-sacrifice brings spiritual freedom.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auschwitz-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-stolen/521804.md?page=3)