BERLIN (Sputnik) — The gate, which bears a slogan reading "arbeit macht frei" (work sets you free), was taken back into the camp during a ceremony attended by members of the Bavarian government, International Dachau Committee chair Jean-Michel Thomas and the Dachau memorial administration, the Bayerischer Rundfunk radio broadcaster reported on Wednesday.
The cast-iron gate was stolen from the entrance to the Dachau memorial compound in 2014 and was traced to Norway in December. The camp administration planned to display the gate at a museum while a replica was installed at the original location.
Dachau, located close to Bavaria's capital Munich, was among the first to function as a detention center for political prisoners in Nazi Germany. The camp later expanded into an entire system across southern Germany and Austria before being liberated by US forces in 1945. The site of the camp now houses a memorial complex.
The "arbeit macht frei" slogan was used widely to decorate Nazi camps. In 2009, a metal place bearing slogan was stolen from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
