A Polish court today convicted three men of the theft of the notorious "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) sign from the Auschwitz memorial site in December.
The men, two of whom are brothers, were given prison sentences ranging from 18 months to two years. Krakow's district court said the men had confessed to the theft. Because of Polish privacy laws they were only identified as Radoslaw M, Lukasz M and Pawel S.
The theft happened on the night of 17-18 December.
The thieves left traces in the snow and then cut the sign into three pieces to make it easier to transport. They also left behind the last letter "i". Authorities later said that the Polish men were petty thieves working on a commission for someone else.
A Swedish man with a neo-Nazi background, Anders Hogstrom, is also a suspect. He is under arrest in Sweden and due to be extradited to Poland. Two other Polish suspects under investigation remain in prison. Police tracked down the cut-up sign in a snow-covered forest on the other side of Poland less than three days after it was stolen.
The former death camp gets more than a million visitors a year and is one of Europe's most important sites honouring the memory of the victims of the holocaust.