Police return stolen Auschwitz sign to museum

Polish regional police officials on Thursday returned the historic "Arbeit macht frei" sign to the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, local media reported.

The sign, which means "Work sets you free," was stolen on December 18 and recovered two days later, DPA reported.

Police returned the sign during a ceremony in Krakow after conducting tests on it.

Five men have been remanded in custody in Poland on suspicion of organizing and carrying out the theft of the sign. Swedish authorities said on January 5 they had been asked to assist the Polish probe into the theft.

The sign hung over the entrance of the camp where Nazis killed some 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, during World War II in occupied Poland.

The sign had been defaced and cut into three pieces, allegedly in preparation for shipment to a buyer.

Published reports have suggested that there was a plan to ship the sign to a group of Swedish neo-Nazis.