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| Police find stolen Auschwitz sign | Police find stolen Auschwitz sign |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The infamous "Arbeit mach frei" sign stolen from Auschwitz has been found in northern Poland and five men have been arrested, police say. | The infamous "Arbeit mach frei" sign stolen from Auschwitz has been found in northern Poland and five men have been arrested, police say. |
| They said the metal sign from the main gate, which symbolises for many the atrocities of Nazi Germany, had been cut into three pieces. | |
| A major search was launched after the sign was stolen before dawn on Friday. | A major search was launched after the sign was stolen before dawn on Friday. |
| Its theft, the motive for which was not being reported, caused outrage in Israel and among Polish politicians. | Its theft, the motive for which was not being reported, caused outrage in Israel and among Polish politicians. |
| Five men in their 20s or 30s were detained and were being taken to Krakow for questioning, a police spokeswoman said. | Five men in their 20s or 30s were detained and were being taken to Krakow for questioning, a police spokeswoman said. |
| More than a million people - 90% of them Jews - were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz during World War II. | |
| Scrap metal yards searched | |
| Police had stepped up security checks at airports and border crossings and searched scrap metal yards over the weekend in their hunt for the 5-m (16-ft) sign, which translates as "Work sets you free". | |
| The wrought-iron sign was half-unscrewed, half-torn off from above the death camp's gate between 0330 and 0500 on Friday. | |
| Investigators say at least two people would have been needed to steal the 5-m (16-ft), 40-kg (90-lb) sign. | |
| Auschwitz museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt said the thieves had apparently carried the sign 300m (yards) to an opening in a concrete wall. The opening was left intentionally to preserve a poplar tree dating back to the time of World War II. | |
| Four metal bars that had blocked the opening had been cut and footprints in the snow led from the wall opening to the nearby road, where police presume the sign was loaded on to a vehicle. |