Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Arrest Made in Auschwitz Sign Theft

A wanted Swedish man has been arrested in connection with the theft of the famous Auschwitz sign.

Anders Hogstrom was arrested Thursday in Stockholm, the BBC reported, a week after a Polish court issued a European-wide warrant for his arrest for allegedly ordering the theft of the metal sign reading “Arbeit macht frei” from the front gate of the former concentration camp, now a memorial.

Hogstrom reportedly acted as an agent for a British Nazi sympathizer who wanted the sign.

The 16-foot metal sign, which means “work makes you free,” was stolen Dec. 18 and recovered across the country 72 hours later.

Experts are working to restore the sign, which had been cut into three pieces. It is not certain that the sign will be returned to its place; a copy was placed at the front gate immediately after the theft.

Some 1.1 million people, including about 1 million Jews, were murdered at Auschwitz.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.