Thieves stole the door that bears the infamous sign, "Arbeit macht frei" — translated as "work sets you free" — from the gate to the Dachau concentration camp this weekend.
The Dachau camp was built in 1933 and was the first Nazi concentration camp. More than 40,000 people were killed at the camp before it was closed in 1945.
The stolen sign is the "central symbol of the prisoners' suffering" at the camp, Gabriele Hammermann, director of the memorial, told Reuters. The camp's prisoners saw the sign every day, and the theft has "hit the memorial at its heart."
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This isn't the first time a concentration camp sign was stolen, either — in 2009, a sign with the same slogan was stolen from Auschwitz.
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