Noah Klieger

It was not a childish prank or an act of vandalism. No. The theft of the “Arbeit macht frei: sign at the entrance to Auschwitz appears to be a well planned and well thought-out act, whose aim was to damage the site symbolizing the Jewish people’s Holocaust; the site that will symbolize it for eternity: Auschwitz.

The people who committed this crime, assuming they acted based on anti-Semitic motives, indeed engaged in careful planning as to how to target this symbol. And this is the source of the problem. This is the main reason for concern. The issue is not the physical removal of the iron letters, as in any case, even if Polish authorities fail to find the perpetrators, there will be no difficulty to replace the sign.

The real problem has to do with the motives, and with the fact that 65 years after the greatest and cruelest genocide in the history of mankind, there are still people out there who aim to undermine the memory of the six million Jews who were murdered (about 1.4 million of them at Auschwitz,) as well as the memory of the thousands of non-Jews also murdered in this camp of horrors, including many Poles. This is where the problem lies.

Next time it will be worse
This is evil that must be addressed forcefully and with no compromise. This evil needs to be eradicated. Zero tolerance to Holocaust deniers, who are apparently a source of inspiration for those who committed this crime. Zero forgiveness to the various anti-Semites, whoever they may be.

As long as the enlightened nations will not decide to act with full force against these negative and dangerous elements, instead making do with statements and declarations only, there will be no solution to the problem and it will merely grow and expand.

Next time, the elements behind the theft of the sign will not make do with the removal of iron letters. After all, it is also possible to blow up the museum and the various exhibits at the different huts at the camp.

This is not an issue of strict security in order to prevent such acts in the future. No, this is about decisive action against the elements that encourage the preparation and execution of these crimes.