Dachau Gate Stolen - The iron gate at Dachau in Germany which bore the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei", otherwise meaning "Work sets you free," has been stolen over the weekend. The theft at the former Nazi concentration camp of Dachau just north of Munich looked as if a carefully planned crime, said Bavaria authorities Monday.
Police said the Dachau gate, stolen, happened overnight Sunday at the site nearby Munich.
The theft of the gate at Dachau was discovered early Sunday by the private security service which supposedly kept 24-hour surveillance on the site, apart from frequent patrols by police. Officials said the Dachau gate, stolen records suggested the theft to have occurred between midnight and 5:30 a.m.
According to the New York Times, Dachau is the first ever camp to be opened by the Nazis for the incarceration of their political enemies, which began following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Eventually, it turned to a prison for any individual to cross the Nazis. Amongst those incarcerated in the now Dachau gate stolen, were thousands of people including Jews, foreigners and other groups persecuted by the Nazis.
Many inmates were reporteldy shot or gassed. Thousands others died through disease or from being overworked.
With the Dachau gate stolen, Gabriele Hammermann, who has worked for the site since 1997 and has headed it since 2009, said she is repulsed at the theft and describing it as a violation of the site.
Nazis reportedly imprisoned about 200,000 people over 12 years across the borders of the Dachau gate, stolen now. 41,500 were estimated to have died at the camp, which was later liberated by the Americans before World War II ended in Europe May 1945.
Other Jewish groups are now condemning the desecration at Nazis' first concentration camp too, reports the Wall Street Journal.
"It was a terrible shock," said Hammermann of the Dachau gate, stolen. "This is the most important symbol of the concentration camp."
Hammermann, together with police investigators, speculate that at least two adults could be involved in the theft. They noted that the thieves had cut the 225-pound, six-and-a-half-foot-long iron object loose. They also reportedly had to heave it over towards an outer gate.
"How do you protect them and at the same not interfere with the authentic structure? You have to weigh it all," particularly in consultation with survivors, said Hammermann, who explained that the protection of sites like Dachau needed a careful balance between security and modern surveillance.
Ludwig Spaenle, Bavaria's culture minister, visited Dachau on Monday.
Spaenle said the thieves of the Dachau gate, stolen, dealt "a blow in the innermost heart of the memorial."
"For anyone who has critically examined the history of the Third Reich, this is a shock. The concept 'Arbeit Macht Frei' precisely hid the fact that people were murdered and exploited," added Ludwig Unger, Spaenle's spokesman and a historian, via telephone.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors flock each year from around the world to visit the historical site, according to the BBC. The site is the most visited former concentration camp in Germany. An estimated 800,000 visit the place per year.
The camp with its Dachau gate, stolen, is now a memorial site desecrated. Since there had initially been no surveillance system at Dachau, which is monitored by private guards, site officials are now reviewing security measures, according to German news agency DPA.
The Dachau gate, stolen, isn't the only Nazi-related theft in recent years. In 2009, a similar theft occurred at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. A man with neo-Nazi ties reportedly stole an "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign, which was recovered after a few days but already cut into three pieces. In December 2010, a Swedish neo-Nazi and two Polish accomplices were also jailed for their part in the theft.
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