The History of Auschwitz Gate

Opened in 1940, Auschwitz was the largest of the German Nazi concentration and death camps. Auschwitz is located in southern Poland and initially served as a detention centre for political prisoners. However, as time passed by, it was developed into a death camp where Jewish people and other presumed enemies of the German Nazi’s were exterminated. This happened in gas chambers or in slave labour camps. 

A few prisoners were also subjected to cruel and inhuman medical experiments which were led by Josef Mengele a German SS officer and physician). From the year 1939 to 1945 (World War II) more than one million people, in some way, lost their lives at the Auschwitz concentration camp. In January 1945, as the Red Army reached the concentration camp, the German Nazi officials abandoned the camp and sent an estimated 60,000 prisoners on a forced march to other locations. The Red Army found thousands of starved detainees and piles of corpses left behind in the camp.

 

Recommended Tours : Skip-the-Line Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp Tour with Transport

 

Arbeit Macht Frei – The Gate of Death at Auschwitz

Just above the front gate of Auschwitz-I is a 16 feet (4.8 meters) wide wrought-iron sign that reads Arbeit Macht Frei translating to ‘Work Makes You Free.

Every day, thousands of prisoners would pass under this sign to and from their long and harsh day at the labor camp, and as they passed the gate of death, they read the cynical expression, knowing very well that their only true way to freedom was not ‘Work’ but ‘Death’.  

They passed the gate twice every day. The first time, early in the morning, when they were going to work and the second time, when they were coming back, often carried by fellow inmates because of extreme fatigue.  The gate of death at Auschwitz never led to freedom, only to pain. This sign became a symbol of Auschwitz, the largest of the German Nazi concentration camp in Poland. Even today, the metal engraving above Auschwitz’s front gate arouses interest among tourists from all over the world.

 

Who Made the Auschwitz Gate Sign?  

In April 1940, SS leader Heinrich Himmler ordered a new concentration camp to be built near Oswiecim. In order to build the camp, the German Nazi’s forced more than 300 Jews from Oswiecim and nearby areas to begin work. In May 1940, Rudolf Hoss arrived and became the first commandant of Auschwitz. While supervising the camp’s construction, Hoss ordered the creation of a large sign with the phrase ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’. Prisoners who were skilled in metal works were assigned the task and they created the 16 foot (4.8 meters) long and 90 pound (40 kg) sign. The inscription ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ was made by a prisoner, Jan Liwacz. 

In 1945, after the liberation of the Auschwitz camp by the Red Army, the Soviets wanted to take Auschwitz gate sign to the Soviet Union. But thanks to the insightfulness of a former prisoner, the inscription was hidden from the Soviet’s, and later was used as an important piece of history at the Auschwitz Museum.

 

warsaw to auschwitz

 

 

The Inverted ‘B’ of Auschwitz Front Gate

The prisoners of the death camp who made the ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ sign did not make it exactly as planned. It is now believed to have been an act of defiance; they placed the ‘B’ in Arbeit’ upside down. In protest against the slogan, this inverted ‘B’ became a symbol of courage. 

Another example of ridiculing the falsity of the slogan was a popular saying used among Auschwitz prisoners was ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (Work makes you free) Durch Krematorium Nummer Drei (Through Crematorium Number Three).

In the year 2010, the International Auschwitz Committee began a ‘to B remembered’ campaign, which awards small sculptures of that inverted ‘B’ to people who don’t stand as spectators but take active part in preventing another genocide.

 

Similar Signs at Other Camps      

The sign Arbeit Macht Frei was placed at the entrances of a few more German Nazi concentration camps. Although the sign at Auschwitz is the most famous one, it was not the first. Before the start of World War – II, the German Nazis imprisoned many people for political reasons in their early concentration camps. One such camp was ‘Dachau’.

This was the first German Nazi concentration camp that was built soon after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in 1933.  A year later, Theodor Eicke became the commandant of Dachau and in 1936; he had the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei placed on the gate of Dachau.

The phrase was originally written by Lorenz Diefenbach, a novelist, who wrote a book called Arbeit Macht Frei in 1873. The book was about gangsters who find honour and dignity through hard labour.  Theodor Eicke used this phrase on the gates of Dachau not to be cynical but as an inspiration to those political prisoners and criminals who were imprisoned in the camp.

Rudolf Hoss who worked at Dachau from 1934 to 1938, brought the phrase with him to Auschwitz in 1940. But Auschwitz and Dachau aren’t the only camps where you can find the Arbeit Macht Frei slogan. It can also be found at Sachsenhausen, Theresienstadt, Gross-Rosen, and Flossenburg.

The sign was prominently displayed, and was seen by all prisoners and staff – all of them knew that prisoners confined in these camps would likely only be freed by death. The sign’s psychological impact was tremendous.

 

Recommended Tour: Krakow Auschwitz-Birkenau Tour with Private Transport

The Sign’s Original Meaning     

In reality the slogan Arbeit Macht Frei – ‘Work makes you free’ was actually a play of words. It was taken from a phrase in the Bible that says Wahrheit Macht Frei – Truth Will Free You.

During the early 1930s the slogan Arbeit Macht Frei became very popular due to the high unemployment level in Germany. Hitler gave rise to a political idea that Germans worked hard, but Jews did not.  And soon it became a favourite quote of German Nazi officers who forced Jewish prisoners to work in inhuman conditions. The slogan appeared over the gates of many forced labour and extermination camps around Europe.

 

The Gate of Death Auschwitz Sign is Stolen

On December 18, 2010, during the early hours of morning, a gang of robbers entered Auschwitz and unscrewed the Arbeit Macht Frei sign. They cut the sign into three pieces (one word on each piece) so that it would fit into their car.  And they drove off after the robbery.

The theft was discovered later that morning, what followed was an international outcry. The Government of Poland issued a state of emergency and tightened the border security. And a nationwide hunt for the missing sign began and for the group of robbers who stole it. 

After three days, the Arbeit Macht Frei sign was found in a snowy forest in northern Poland. Later six men were arrested – one from Sweden and five from Poland. A former Swedish neo-Nazi, Anders Hogstrom, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison in Sweden. While the other five Polish men received sentences ranging from six to two years.

 

Where Is the Sign Now?

The original Arbeit Macht Frei sign has been restored back in one piece. Today, it remains in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum rather than at the front gate of Auschwitz-I. The authorities, fearing for the original sign’s safety, installed a replica over the Auschwitz front gate.

 

Have you visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp? Tell us your experience of walking under the sign Arbeit Macht Frei at the front gate in the comments section below.

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