Warsaw, Poland – Auschwitz Sign Theft Swedish Connection Named

Warsaw, Poland – The Krakow Prosecutor’s Office is issuing arrest warrants for a Swede and a citizen from former Yugoslavia in connection with theft of the “work makes you free” sign from the Auschwitz museum last month.

One of the suspects is 35-year-old Swede, Anders H, a neo-Nazi group leader who admitted yesterday that his group had arranged to sell the sign on to a dealer in another country for “millions of crowns”.

The other suspect is a 40-year-old immigrant to Sweden from former Yugoslavia. The Krakow Prosecutor’s Office is to issue a European arrest warrant for the two men. The document, recently forwarded to the Stockholm police, included a request for a cross-examination of the suspects.

The theft of the “work makes you free” sign had been planned for over a year, Polish media reports. The Swedish neo-Nazi was to get almost half a million euro for the sign after he sold it on to a collector, which Anders H. told a Swedish tabloid yesterday was someone outside of Sweden and who was not politically motivated.

The gang of five Poles arrested on December 21 was led by Marcin A, who works as an employee for a construction company owned by the father of Anders H.

On 18 December, following a reconnaissance, the thieves dismantled the sign hanging over Gate 1 at the Auschwitz museum and cut it into three parts. It was then hidden on the back seat of the car and transported to a location near Toruń, central Poland, around 600 kilometers from Auschwitz.

Although Anders H. says he contacted Polish, Swedish and Europol after being shocked at the international outrage that followed the theft, it was a tip off from two Polish sources that helped capture the culprits, however. A reward of around 280,000 euro will be divided among the two informers.