VOA标准英语2009年-Theft of Infamous Sign at Auschwitz Sp

（单词翻译）

The Yad Vashem Holocaust¹ Memorial in Jerusalem expresses shock over the theft of the iron sign, which reads 'ARBEIT MACHT FREI' or 'Work makes you free.' Yad Vashem director Avner Shalev says the theft is "an attack on the memory of the Holocaust."

Robert Berger | Jerusalem 18 December 2009

 
Photo: AP
Tourists walk under a copy of the inscription² 'Arbeit Macht Frei' at the main entrance to the former Nazi³ death camp Auschwitz Birkenau, in Oswiecim, southern Poland, 18 Dec 2009.

 
The theft of a key symbol at a Nazi death camp in Poland has sparked outrage⁴ in Israel.

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem expressed shock over the theft of the infamous⁵ iron sign at Auschwitz, which reads "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" or "Work makes you free." Yad Vashem director Avner Shalev said the theft is "an attack on the memory of the Holocaust."

Shalev told Israel's Army Radio that the theft was apparently⁶ carried out by "Neo-Nazi anti-Semites who want to destroy democracy in Europe and return to a period of murder and chaos⁷."

Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis⁸ during the Holocaust, including about a million at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

Christine Alkassis, deputy curator of the Auschwitz Museum, told Israel Radio that the staff at the museum is shocked and outraged⁹ by the theft of a symbol of the Holocaust.

Museum officials say the thieves entered Auschwitz before dawn and ripped the sign off its foundation. They carried it 300 meters to an opening in a barbed-wire fence. A getaway vehicle was waiting on the road nearby.

Holocaust organizations in Israel demanded that the Polish authorities apprehend¹⁰ and severely¹¹ punish the perpetrators. They called on the nations of the world to step up the fight against anti-Semitism so the events of the Holocaust will never happen again.