Auschwitz sign thieves convicted

A POLISH court convicted three men yesterday of the theft, last December, of the "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) sign from the Auschwitz memorial site.

The men, two of whom are brothers, were given prison sentences ranging from 18 months to two and a half years.

Krakow's district court heard that the men had confessed to the theft and agreed to settlements, which meant the case did not have to go to trial.

The three men were identified in court only as Radoslaw M, Lukasz M, and Pawel S, in keeping with Polish privacy laws.

The theft, sometime in the night between 17 and 18 December, was a brazen heist that shocked Holocaust survivors and many others committed to preserving the Auschwitz-Birkenau site.

The thieves left traces in the snow and then cut the sign into three pieces to make it easier to transport.

Authorities later said that the Polish men who had carried out the theft were petty thieves who were working on commission for someone else.