The mastermind behind last week’s theft of the metal sign above the entrance to the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz is a foreigner living outside Poland, prosecutors said today.
Polish police recovered the sign, which reads "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work makes you free"), and arrested five men early yesterday over the theft, which had triggered widespread outrage, especially from Israel and Jewish groups.
"The main person behind this crime was somebody living outside Poland who does not hold Polish citizenship," prosecutor Artur Wrona told a news conference after the five suspects took part in a re-enactment of the robbery at the camp.
"Our actions in the coming days will be aimed at identifying this person, who is based in a European country," he said.
Mr Wrona declined to give further details or to comment on Polish media reports that a Swedish collector had been involved in the crime.
Officials have described the five suspects as common criminals with no known links to neo-Nazi groups.
The theft had stirred fears of a possible political motive as the sign is a powerful symbol of the Holocaust committed by the Nazis against the Jews.
"They did it for money. They knew where they were going and what for, but they were not really aware of the reaction this theft would cause," Mr Wrona said.
Police displayed the metal sign, broken into three pieces and twisted out of shape, at a news conference. They said the thieves had left behind the final "i" of the word "frei".
Mr Wrona said the thieves cut the five-metre long sign into three so that it would fit into their sports car. "They were no experts... but they were relatively cheap (to hire)," he added.
The men face up to 10 years in jail for stealing and cutting up the sign, forged by a Polish prisoner at Auschwitz in 1940-41. The Auschwitz site, now a museum, is on the Unesco world heritage list.
Mr Wrona accused the Auschwitz authorities of negligence. "Our investigation showed the thieves returned to the scene several times during the night. The first time they didn't have proper tools with them to unscrew it. The security was not working properly," he said.
Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, died at the death camp of Auschwitz during Nazi Germany's second World War occupation of Poland. Arriving prisoners entered through a small iron gate topped by the arched sign.
The motto became a symbol of the Nazis' efforts to give their victims a false sense of security before murdering them.Auschwitz prisoners died in the gas chambers, of disease, sub-zero temperatures, starvation and in medical experiments.
Underlining government concern over possible damage to the country's image, Prime Minister Donald Tusk held talks today with the police officers who recovered the sign.
Museum authorities have said they hope to have the sign restored and back in place in time for celebrations in January to mark the 65th anniversary of the camp's liberation by the Soviet Red Army.