He defended security at the camp but said no-one could have ever imagined thieves seizing the gate's sign. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a leading Jewish human rights group, urged Poland to intensify its investigation and bring the thieves to justice. "The Arbeit Macht Frei sign has become the defining symbol of the Holocaust, because everyone knew that this was not a place where work makes you free, but it was the place where millions of men, women, and children were brought for one purpose only – to be murdered," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the centre's founder and dean.

Security personnel need to be able to think like the people they are securing against or there can be no success ...