# The "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign has been stolen from Dachau **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 2, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401 "2014-11-02T23:13:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/21 "2014-11-04T20:26:04Z")
Wait, I may have that wrong. I remember an arch, but there are several different designs you can see in photos online. The more specific descriptions seem to describe a rectangular section set into a larger gate. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/22 "2014-11-04T21:01:43Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Wait, I may have that wrong. I remember an arch, but there are several different designs you can see in photos online. The more specific descriptions seem to describe a rectangular section set into a larger gate. I believe the (relatively more famous) arch one is above the gates of Auschwitz I ; while at Dachau and Sachsenhausen it was indeed written into the postern gate (the small one inset within the larger one). [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei). ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/23 "2014-11-04T21:08:39Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I guess I’m pitting the anonymous (neo-Nazi?) thieves. Really? This far in and nobody’s made a joke about **Smapti**? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/24 "2014-11-05T03:59:37Z")
It was those damn, dirty… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/25 "2014-11-09T17:20:46Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > What sign? There wasn’t a sign. 😕😕😕 > [@Doug\_K](#): > > The articles I’ve seen don’t say sign, it was a gate at the main entrance with the slogan on it. > [@Napier](#): > > It was a black metal arch over the gate, with black metal letters between an upper and lower borders. It wasn’t solid, just the border outlines and the letters. I think it could be called a sign. What I was semi-humorously trying to imply is the potential for, a few decades down the road, for neo-nazis to ask people to prove that that message was placed there, because there’s no sign for proof. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/26 "2016-12-04T03:09:52Z")
Update: Norwegian authorities found it thanks to a tip: > **[Nazi Death Camp Gate Found In Norway 2 Years After It Was Stolen](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dachau-nazi-death-camp-gate-recovered_n_584335b3e4b09e21702f0316)** > > The 220-pound gate stood at the entrance to the concentration camp before being stolen in 2014. > [@](#): > > An anonymous tip this week led police in southwestern Norway to recover part of a historic gate that was stolen from a former Nazi death camp more than two years ago. > > The iron black gate, which bears the grim inscription “Arbeit macht frei” (”Work will set you free”), once stood at the prisoner entranceway of Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany. As evident from the gate’s text, Nazi propaganda sometimes depicted concentration camps as places of work and education for Jews and criminals, rather than torture-filled prisons where brutal human rights abuses occurred regularly. > [@](#): > > The original gate will promptly be returned to the Dachau memorial following a judicial review, according to an official statement posted online. > > “I congratulate the security authorities on their transnational success,” said Karl Freller, Director of the Bavarian Memorial Foundation. “It is a great relief to me that this piece of original evidence of the Nazis’ cynicism and contempt for humankind has been recovered.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/27 "2016-12-04T15:39:46Z")
I thought perhaps they found it in a storage unit rented by the Trump campaign. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/28 "2016-12-04T21:00:58Z")
And found by a TV crew after Trump didn’t pay his rent. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/29 "2016-12-05T02:06:36Z")
And here I thought Hitlery had stolen it. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401/30 "2016-12-06T01:37:33Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > It was those damn, dirty… …Apes? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-arbeit-macht-frei-sign-has-been-stolen-from-dachau/703401.md?page=1)