Sign Over Auschwitz Gate Is Stolen
By now you’ve probably heard the news: the sign over the gate at Auschwitz, the infamous “arbeit macht frei” — “work sets you free,” was stolen this morning, sometime before dawn.
What would someone do with this? Where would they hide it? Is there really a black market for stolen iron gates from Auschwitz?
And why is this, according to one Israeli official, “a declaration of war”?
This is a distressing theft of a significant historical icon that deserves to stand above those gates forever as a sign of what horrors were perpetrated there.
One aside – we do not know the intentions of the offenders at this time. It may have been stolen to order, it may have been stolen to cause distress to all right thinking people, but it may also have been stolen for the value of the scrap metal.
I have known of other historical items (war memorials, historical markers at prisoner of war camps) that have been taken in England just for the measly value of the metal they contained.
I hope the perpetrators are caught and the sign returned to its rightful place and purpose – a lasting reminder of man’s potential inhumanity to man.
I think “they” are trying to erase history
The “theft” will be no doubt by some “youths”
http://txlady706.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/infamous-auschwitz-sign-is-convineintly-stolen/
Maybe the perpetrators thought that that the sign was frei.
It was the haredim.
http://kvetcher.net/2009/12/4344/kvetcher-exclusive-auschwitz-sign-thieves-caught/
DK, do you have any sources for that report?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/world/europe/21auschwitz.html
DK, do you have any sources for that report?
Not exactly. I just made it up.
Why do people not instinctively know that this sort of thing is a well for tasteless jokes?
Because I have no context for understanding your blog, no clues that it was anything other than a blind-item news story, no reason not to take you at face value?
I thought the clue was “The idea that all Jews should work is anti-Toyrah.”
If we assumed that typos always implied the presence of a joke, Jewschool would be much, much funnier.
dlevy, the “satire” tag was the giveaway.