UPDATED - Police have recovered the Auschwitz "Arbeit macht frei" sign, stolen last Friday and have detained five men.
Text by Peter Gentle, audio by Michal Kubicki
The men are said to be aged 20 to 39 years and all have criminal records involving theft among other crimes. But according to initial findings by investigators they have no links to neo-nazi groups, as has been speculated.
They face charges of damaging a cultural relic, a crime which can be punished by up to ten years imprisonment.
The sign, which is five metres in length and weighs up to 40 kilograms, was found in Torun, northern Poland last night, 500 kms from the Auschwitz museum. It was cut into three parts, says police spokesman Dariusz Nowak in Warsaw.
"We are currently trying to ascertain what the motives of the men were in the next few hours,“ said Mariusz Sokolowski at Krakow Police Headquarters.
Pawel Sawicki, spokesman for the Auschwitz museum told Polish Radio today that he was woken up in the middle of the night to be informed that the sign had been found.
“This is a day of huge relief,” he said. “Not just for Poles, or Jews but for everyone the world over who has been moved by the desecration of a symbol of the murder of over one million men, women and children who were murdered by the Nazis. “
Timing no accident?
A government spokesman in Warsaw has said the motive behind the Auschwitz sign theft could be to damage Poland’s international image ahead of January’s anniversary celebrations of the liberation of the death camp.
Pawel Gras at the Prime Minister’s Office said that the theft of the "Arbeit macht frei" sign on Friday could be an attempt to affect the image of Poland abroad.
“If the case is not solved by [January] all of the attention will be on the theft and not the message that should be coming out of Poland,” Gras told Radio Zet, Sunday, before it was recovered.
RMF radio is reporting, however, that the theft was ordered by a collector of Nazi memorabilia.
The ceremony to mark the 65 th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp will take place on January 27 next year, held under the patronage of President Lech Kaczynski. Present at the event will be Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek plus survivors and relatives.
Israel “shocked”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to present at the ceremony in January, urged Poland to find the sign and bring the thieves to justice.
"I am shocked by the theft and I appeal to the Polish government to act and catch the criminals, who have desecrated the place where over a million Jews were murdered," PM Netanyahu said Sunday.
Police received over 120 telephone calls with people offering information, one of which led to police finding the sign “in a wooded area” reports RMF.
A reward of over 27,000 euros was offered for information that could lead to the recovery of the sign and the arrest of the thieves. (pg)
Source: IAR/PAP/RMF
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Auschwitz museum reviews security after theft , thenews.pl 19.12.2009
Theft of Holocaust symbol (audio) , thenews.pl 18.12.2009
Thieves steal Auschwitz sign , thenews.pl 18.12.2009