Police: Auschwitz sign thieves not neo-Nazis

Five men detained over the theft of the metal sign that hung over the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz acted from financial motives and were not members of a neo-Nazi group, Polish police said on Monday.

The theft, which occurred last Friday, triggered worldwide condemnation, especially from Israel and Jewish groups. Polish authorities made the recovery of the sign, which reads "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work makes you free"), a top priority.

"We can say that none of the five are members of a neo-Nazi group ... Their intent was undoubtedly robbery-related.

"We will be able to decide later whether the crime was ordered or whether they acted on their own initiative," Andrzej Rokita, district police chief in the city of Krakow, told a news conference.

Police officers holding part of damaged sign Monday (Photo: AFP)

Krakow police spokeswoman Agnieszka Szczygiel told Ynet that the five suspects are being investigated since Sunday night.

"All leads are being examined, and we are also checking whether the motive was anti-Semitic," said the spokeswoman, adding that the current assumption is that the thieves operated out of financial motives rather than nationalistic ones; however "it is still not clear how they planned on making money off of the sign."

The Polish officer said that the local security authorities were satisfied with the swift arrest and recovery of the historic sign: "we are especially happy that the police managed to act so quickly and detain the suspects. The successful operation is due to the cooperation of several units throughout the country as well as the help of upright citizens."

The police noted they received over 100 messages from civilians who saw the thieves get away.

Residence of the small Polish town Oświęcim, next to which the concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was built, also expressed satisfaction when hearing that the sign was found. "It is very cold in Oświęcim right now; the temperature is 14 below zero, but the news of the discovery of the stolen sign warms our hearts," Oświęcim Mayor Janusz Marszalek told Ynet. "All of us here have a strong bond to the people of Israel," he added.

Marszalek noted that many rumors spread around town vis-à-vis the possible motives of the thieves. "There are those who say it was an un-successful prank of a few youngsters, but I don’t believe that. The sign was found a few hundred kilometers from Auschwitz, so it makes no sense.

"Others claim it has to do with the German government's decision to allocate €60 million for the renovation of the camp's museum. It is possible the thieves were looking to thwart this initiative," he said.

The sign was found Sunday night cut into three pieces near the home of one of the five men. Two of the suspects were tracked down in the northern city of Gdynia, the other three near Wloclawek.

The Associated Press and Sarah Stricker contributed to this report