The theft of the 100kg (220lb) gate was reported on 2 November 2014, sparking uproar, with Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, calling it “appalling”.
The Dachau camp, just a few miles from Munich, opened in 1933, less than two months after Adolf Hitler became chancellor. It was first used to incarcerate political prisoners, but during the second world war it became a death camp where more than 41,000 Jews were slaughtered before US troops liberated it on 29 April 1945.
Another sign with the same inscription at Auschwitz was stolen in 2009. The mastermind of that theft, the Swedish neo-Nazi Anders Högström, was caught and jailed for two-and-a-half years.
The metal sign was eventually recovered cut up into three pieces. A replica was displayed above the entrance until it was restored in 2011.
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