Oswiecim and Warsaw (PMN)—Thieves stole the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" ["Work Makes Freedom"] gate sign from Germany’s Auschwitz death camp in Poland on December 18, 2009. Museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfeld told reporters, "It's a profanation of the place where more than a million people were murdered. It's shameful."

The theft of the metal sign, which was forged by prisoners on Nazi orders, and was one of the most sinister examples of their propaganda, sent shockwaves across Poland. Ex-president Lech Walesa said the theft was "unthinkable." He did not believe it was an ideological act, but purely a criminal matter.

The site of the former camp, on the outskirts of the southern Polish town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz in German) is closed at night and patrolled by watchmen. Police combed through video surveillance footage from the site.

Police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo told reporters that the sign was found on the night of December 19 in northern Poland, the other end of the country from the southern Polish town where the Auschwitz memorial museum is located and where it disappeared before dawn the day prior.

Padlo added that police detained five men between the ages of 25 and 39 and took them for questioning to Krakow, the regional command of the area that includes the Auschwitz museum. Another police spokesman, Dariusz Nowak, said the 16-foot sign, made of hollow steel, was found cut into three pieces, each containing one of the words.

It was alleged that a foreigner, possibly in Sweden, was the instigator of the criminal act. In Stockholm, a Swedish police official said they have not been contacted about any links.

Polish police officials said the investigation so far had exposed "glaring negligence" in the security system at the Auschwitz museum that let the burglars act "undisturbed. They reportedly drove to the then-closed museum in a sports car after dark on December 17, but found they needed tools to take down the sign so they went to a shop and bought them. When they returned, it was just after midnight and there were no guards about as they unbolted one side and ripped the other off the opposite gate post.

Nazi Germany initially set up the camp for Polish resistance fighters in a former barracks, nine months after invading Poland in September, 1939. It later became a death camp for Jews and others.