“Arbeit Macht Frei” Sign Stolen
AP:
Polish police say the infamous iron sign over the gate to the Auschwitz memorial site with the cynical phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei” — German for “Work Sets You Free” — has been stolen.
I have been to Auschwitz (and Birkenau, which I found equally moving if not more so), and have several pictures of this sign — probably somewhere in a box.
It’s something everyone should see. I imagine it’s not the same without the sign. I hope they find it, for the benefit of visitors, and history.
Could it be that Bambi absconded with it, perhaps to use as the banner for his nationalized community service scheme?
Icy Texan (327e6d) — 12/18/2009 @ 1:53 amits undoubtedly hanging just above Jeff G’s keyboard….
/logical conclusion
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 12/18/2009 @ 2:34 amIt’s something everyone should see. I imagine it’s not the same without the sign.
Agreed, and they should keep looking; hopefully it will be found.
In the meantime, very glad the replica’s been hung (and visitors told about it). People deserve to have every bit of the full impact about what happened there.
no one you know (1ebbb1) — 12/18/2009 @ 2:42 amAnd if they find and convict the thieves, sentence them to 10 years hard labor.
Oh, the sweet irony.
Dr. K (adb7ba) — 12/18/2009 @ 2:46 amI suggest they begin looking in a local Mosk.
Paul Albers (7adcc2) — 12/18/2009 @ 4:34 amI used to think that all memory of Germany should have been erased from the history of the world, with the death of every German, and Germany resettled by other peoples, but now I cannot disagree that we should never forget the Nazi evil.
nk (df76d4) — 12/18/2009 @ 5:49 amI make a plea to authorial intent of the author of the sign’s words.
Like Stacy McCain, gosh, who can really say what was in the author’s heart. All good, likely, all good, eh, Mr. Intentionalism, Mr. Backslider Ghoster Man!
phi slamma jamma (49b53c) — 12/18/2009 @ 6:00 amWhile I agree that there is no sympathy for the Nazi’s who perpetrated and enabled the horrors there, I do have sympathy for those who were children at that time and the “baby boomers” there. Every one that I have met (all 3 or 4) grew up in a home that had very little emotional warmth or freedom in communication and it shows, with a ripple effect onward.
I always thought the lesson from Nazi Germany and WWII was that human beings can be incredibly evil under a very thin veneer of civility, and much of the world (at least in the developed West) does not appreciate just how thin that veneer is. In a similar manner, I have always thought the focus on the Jewish Holocaust actually was counter-productive in some ways. It is reasonable, I think, to realize and remember the specific targetting of the Jewish people, but I thought it more important to remember that Hitler killed more gentiles than Jews, and rather than “Never again” referring to genocide of Jews, it should refer to any genocide.
It is easy to say the Nazi German’s were somehow particularly evil in a way no one else can be, but that denies the reality of the behavior at times of large numbers of the Japenese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Chinese, Russians, Hutus, Tutsis, and Arabic peoples. America has had it’s individuals who have been cruel and evil as well, but I am unaware of atrocities on the scale that I have mentioned.* The Civil War was brutal and bloody, but if there were large scale atrocities I am unfamiliar with them (unless one considers Sherman’s march to the sea in this category).
*One can have reasonable debate on the nature of war and the killing of civilian populations such as Hiroshime, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Dresden and others, but I think the immediate atrocity of the torture, rape, and massacre of civilians that you see face to face is a different beast. One can meaningfully argue, I think, whether the use of the atomic bomb was necessary and it ended up having a net effect of saving lives, but the brutal slaughter of innocents and captives has no purpose other than to demonstrate brutality and wickedness.
MD in Philly (d4668b) — 12/18/2009 @ 6:21 amNK, change “German” to “Liberal”, and “Germany” to “Liberalism”.
What condoments do you want for your words?
PCD (1d8b6d) — 12/18/2009 @ 6:22 amTen bucks says it shows up on the White House front lawn.
SPQR (26be8b) — 12/18/2009 @ 6:28 amHey, MD in Philly, as one of the Jewish, older “baby” boomers who grew up in NYC, “Never Again” had multiple meanings. Among them was that any thinking person should “never again” have blind trust that any government would not go past the “tipping point” into abandoning truth in exchange for propaganda aimed at persuading the population to submit to government subjugation.
Ira (28a423) — 12/18/2009 @ 6:43 amPersonally, I think the theft of a sign of such historical significance, from a place of such heartless evil, should be treated by the commenters with rather more seriousness. It should not be an occasion for taking pot shots at idiot bloggers, the President, etc. I find such levity in poor taste given the subject matter.
PatHMV (140f2a) — 12/18/2009 @ 7:46 amEveryone should go to Auschwitz at least once in their life. When I was there I was surprised to learn of how many Catholic Poles were also killed by the Nazis. Millions.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
Never forget!
J. Raymond Wright (d83ab3) — 12/18/2009 @ 8:18 amIra,
Thank you for your viewpoint.
My broad-brush statements are intended to reflect what most of us who were neither German nor Jewish grew up learning about WWII.
(I guess I should also include not knowing immigrants from Europe who experienced the time. As JRW said, I had yet another view from a friend whose grandfather was a Polish government-office holder who somehow survived the Nazis only to be killed by the Russian “liberators”.)
MD in Philly (d4668b) — 12/18/2009 @ 8:34 amPCD, rhetoric suggesting that everyone who disagrees with you should be killed is somewhat more Nazi-like than not, i think.
Patterico, I took a night train from Krakow to … somewhere, I don’t remember where the train ended up … one night. I was annoyed when the train filled up with a large group of school children (I’d say, maybe 12-13 year olds). They overran my compartment, and I was bored, so I talked with them for a bit.
They were a group from a school in the former East Germany, on their way back to Oswiecim (the town outside of Auschwitz) from Krakow. Every year for many years their school had sent a school group to Auschwitz, where they spent *several days* (taking a day trip to Krakow for one of them).
*Several days*.
That’s some commitment to ‘never again’.
aphrael (9e8ccd) — 12/18/2009 @ 9:31 amGlad to hear it was taken, jews dont deserve to have the sign or anything else. It should be in a Fuhrer Museum.
Adolf (42ca80) — 12/18/2009 @ 10:18 amah yes, the stench of the left wafting out of #16
quasimodo (4af144) — 12/18/2009 @ 10:35 amPatterico, #16 is the predictable result of allowing comments on a thread like this.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 12/18/2009 @ 11:00 am[…] days ago, Patterico posted about the theft of the Arbeit-Macht-Frei (”Work Sets You Free”) gate sign that was stolen from Auschwitz. The AP reports the […]
Patterico's Pontifications » Auschwitz “Arbeit-Macht-Frei” Sign Recovered (e4ab32) — 12/20/2009 @ 7:56 pm