Auschwitz 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign is repaired after theft

The infamous sign above Nazi death camp entrance was cut into three pieces when stolen by five Poles and a Swede two years ago.

By JTA
Auschwitz 311 (photo credit: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel)
Auschwitz 311
(photo credit: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel)
The "Arbeit Macht Frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz and cut into three pieces has been repaired.
The iron sign was unveiled Wednesday in the laboratory of the camp museum. Repairs to the sign, which measures 16 feet across and means "Work makes you free," took several months.
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It was stolen from the former Nazi concentration camp on Dec. 18, 2009 and recovered elsewhere in the country 72 hours later. It was found cut into three pieces.
A copy of the sign has been placed above the entrance gate. The repaired sign will likely become part of a new exhibition, the BBC reported.
Five Polish men were convicted of carrying out the theft on behalf of a Swedish citizen, Anders Hogstrom, who acted as a middleman for a neo-Nazi buyer. Hogstrom founded the far-right National Socialist Front party in Sweden in 1994.