KRAKOW, Poland (WJC)–Polish police have interrogated the five professional thieves who stole the infamous ‘Arbeit macht frei’ sign from the entrance of the former Nazi death camp in Auschwitz.
According to rumors, a foreign collector might have commissioned the gang to steal the wrought-iron sign which was recovered 72 hours after being stolen from the camp. Andrzej Rokita, the deputy commander of Krakow police, described them as non-political and with no links to the neo-Nazi scene. However, all five men had previous convictions for theft or assault, he said.
The metal sign was split into three, wrapped in cloth and initially hidden in woodland before being transferred to a builder’s yard owned by a gang member. A Polish radio station quoted a police source as saying that a “mad collector” could have been behind the crime. “No neo-fascist organization appears to have been involved but it was a very well-planned operation, which bears the hallmarks of a commissioned theft,” the source said.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress