Polish police have recovered the infamous Nazi sign stolen from the former Auschwitz death camp, cut into three pieces, and said Monday it appeared to have been taken by common criminals seeking profit.Five men were arrested late Sunday after the damaged " Arbeit Macht Frei " ("Work Sets You Free") sign was found near one of their homes in a snowy forest outside Czernikowo, a village near the northern Polish city of Torun, across the country from the memorial site.
The brazen pre-dawn theft Friday of one of the Holocaust's most chilling symbols provoked outrage around the world. Polish leaders launched an intensive search for the 5-meter (16-foot) sign, which spanned the main gate of the camp in southern Poland where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, were killed during World War II.
The men's arrest late Sunday came after more than 100 tips, said Andrzej Rokita, the chief police investigator in the case.
Police said it was too soon to say what the motive for the theft was but they are investigating whether the Nazi memorabilia market may have played a part. The suspects do not have known neo-Nazi or other far-right links, Rokita said.
Four of the five men are believed to have carried out the theft, removing the 30- to 40-kilogram (65- to 90-pound) steel sign from above the Auschwitz gate in the town of Oswiecim, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Krakow.
"It seems they cut the sign up already in Oswiecim, to make transport easier," Rokita said at a news conference in Krakow. It was "hidden in the woods near the home of one of them."
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