The sign "Arbeit macht frei" found!

The sign "Arbeit macht frei" found!

The Polish police have arrested five men for the 18 Dec. 2009 heist and desecration of the sign "Arbeit macht frei" (Work Will Set You Free). It was made in 1940 by prisoners in the camp locksmith's shop. The main gate to the Auschwitz I-Main Camp was the only one in the whole Auschwitz complex to be built by Polish political prisoners under German orders. These were prisoners deported from Wiśnicz in one of the early transports, in late 1940 or early 1941. Letters It was made by prisoners in the metalworking labor detail headed by Jan Liwacz (camp number 1010). The prisoners deliberately reversed the letter "B" as a camouflaged mark of disobedience.

Using the prisoner database on the Auchwitz Museum website a href="http://en.auschwitz.org.pl">http://en.auschwitz.org.pl> we learn Jan was registered twice.

Liwacz, Jan
b.4.10.1898 (Dukla), camp serial number:1010, profession:kowal, remarks:przen. 1944 do KL Mauthausen, przez.
The first entry has the Icon accompanying data from the Memorial Books - Transports of Poles from Cracow and other localities in Southern Poland to Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Przen means survived; prenz means transferred

Liwacz, Johann
b.1898-10-04, camp serial number:1010
The second entry has the Icon accompanying data from the so-called Death Books

The BBC reports that Jan Liwacz did survive the war. He was released from Mauthausen concentration camp in May 1945 and returned to Poland.