President Shimon Peres met with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Copenhagen on Friday to discuss the theft of the infamous entrance sign to the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz. The sign, which states "Arbeit Macht Frei," German for "Work will set you free," was stolen earlier Friday.
Peres asked Tusk to take all necessary measures to capture the thieves and to restore the sign to its rightful place. The President emphasized the importance of the sign. "The sign has deep historical significance to the Jewish nation and to the entire world. It serves as a memorial for more than a million Jews who were exterminated at Auschwitz."
Foreign Ministry official Yossi Levy said that Israel was "astounded and angry about the theft at Auschwitz." Polish police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo said local authorities believed the sign was stolen between 3:30 a.m. and 5 a.m., when museum guards noticed that it was missing and alerted the police.
Padlo added that the iron sign, which spanned a gate at the main entrance to the former Nazi death camp, was removed by being unscrewed on one side and pulled off on the other.
Police are offering 5,000 zloty (1,700 dollars) for information about the thieves or where the sign might be hidden, while private security firm Art-Security group offered twice that much.
They are also appealing to residents of Oswiecim for tips. The museum itself offered a 100,000-zloty (34,000-dollar) award for information, a spokesman said late Friday.
The daily Gazeta Wyborcza said on its website that the museum authorities had already installed a replica sign over the gate that had been used briefly a few years ago when the original was being repaired.
"This [theft] is very saddening," Gazeta Wyborcza quoted Jaroslaw Mensfelt, the museum's spokesman, as saying.
"The thieves either didn't know where they were or -- what's even worse -- they did know but that didn't prevent them from stealing."
Rightardia comment: Some Jewish observers have suggested the theft was an effort on the part of right wingers to rewrite the history of World War 2.
There are many Holocaust deniers on the right including Catholic clergy who should know better. Some extremists in the US have even suggested the Nazis were really socialists and the right is guiltless for the atrocities committed by the Nazis.
source: Clip Syndicate
source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1136084.html
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