[[Image:Camp ArbeitMachtFrei.JPG|thumb|''Arbeit Macht Frei'' gate at [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp|KZ Sachsenhausen]]]]
[[Image:PICT8235.JPG|thumb|Detail of the ''Arbeit Macht Frei'' inscription on the gate at [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]].]]
[[Image:Auschwitz entrance.JPG|thumb|''Arbeit Macht Frei'' at Auschwitz, with the inverted B.]]
[[Image:Theresienstadt.JPG|thumb|''Arbeit Macht Frei'' at concentration camp [[Theresienstadt concentration camp|Terezín]] (Theresienstadt) in the Czech Republic.]]
"'''''Arbeit macht frei'''''" is a [[German language|German]] phrase meaning "work brings freedom" or "work shall set you free/will free you" or "work liberates" and, literally in English, "work makes (one) free".<br>
==Origin==
In 1872 the German-nationalist author [[Lorenz Diefenbach]] used the expression, "''Arbeit macht frei''," as the title for a novel, causing the expression to become well-known in [[nationalist]] circles. It was adopted in 1928 by the [[Weimar Republic|Weimar government]] as a slogan extolling the effects of their desired policy of large-scale [[public works]] programmes to end unemployment, and mocking the [[individualist]] slogan, "''Stadtluft macht frei''" ("Urban air liberates"). It was continued in this usage by the [[NSDAP]] (Nazi Party) when it came to power in 1933.
==Nazi use==
The slogan, "''Arbeit macht frei''," was placed at the entrances to a number of [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] [[concentration camp]]s, not as a mockery, not even literally – as a false promise that those who worked to exhaustion would eventually be released – but rather "as a kind of mystical declaration that self-sacrifice in the form of endless labour does in itself bring a kind of spiritual freedom." [http://www.spectacle.org/695/arbeit.html]
Although it was common practice in [[Germany]] to post inscriptions of this sort at entrances to institutional properties and large estates, the slogan's use in this instance was ordered by [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] General [[Theodor Eicke]], inspector of [[concentration camp]]s and first commandant of [[Dachau Concentration Camp]].
The slogan can still be seen at several sites, including the entrance to [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz I]]—although, according to ''Auschwitz: a New History'', by BBC historian [[Laurence Rees]], it was placed there by commandant [[Rudolf Höß]], who believed that doing [[menial]] work during his own imprisonment under the [[Weimar Republic]] had helped him through the experience. At Auschwitz, the upper bowl in the "B" in "ARBEIT" is wider than the lower bowl, appearing to some as upside-down. Several geomerically constructed [[sans-serif]] typefaces of the 1920s experimented with this variation.
The slogan can also be seen at the [[Dachau concentration camp]], [[Gross-Rosen]], [[Sachsenhausen (detention camp)|Sachsenhausen]], and the [[Concentration camp Theresienstadt|Theresienstadt]] Ghetto-Camp.
At [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald]], however, "'''''[[Jedem das Seine]]'''''" ("To each his own") was used instead.
In 1938 the [[Austria]]n political [[cabaret]] writer [[Jura Soyfer]] and the [[composer]] [[Herbert Zipper]], while prisoners at [[Dachau Concentration Camp]], wrote the ''[[Dachaulied]]'' (The Dachau Song). They had spent weeks marching in and out of the camp's gate to daily [[forced labor]], and considered the motto, "''Arbeit macht frei''," over the gate an insult. The song repeats the phrase cynically as a "lesson" taught by Dachau. (The first verse is translated in the article on [[Jura Soyfer]].)
== In Popular Culture ==
British Band [[The Libertines]] wrote a song entitled Arbeit Mach Frei.
CSI: episode [[Pirates of the Third Reich]] depicts gruesome medical experiments by a killer. Over his lab door is the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei".
==External links==
* [http://www.rudyfoto.com/hol/arbeit.html Rudy Brueggemann's Photos of Arbeit Macht Frei slogans at Nazi camps]
==See also==
{{commonscat|Arbeit macht frei}}
* [[The Holocaust]]
* ''[[Jedem das Seine]]''
[[Category:German words and phrases]]
[[Category:Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Nazi glossary]]
[[Category:Unfree labor]]
[[Category:Political slogans]]
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