Someone has posted big letters on the Packard plant overpass that read, in German, “Work will make you free,” the same words that greeted victims at the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, Nirakj Warikoo reports in the Free Press.
In capital red letters on a white background, the new sign at the decaying site on Detroit’s east side reads: “Arbeit Macht Frei,” words that were placed over the entrance to the concentration camps in Poland where Jews were forced to work and were murdered. The sign, which was used at other Nazi camps, became well known as an international symbol of cruelty.
It is unclear why the letters were posted at the Packard plant, the massive, decaying ruin south of I-94 and Mt. Elliott.
Tom Greenwood reports in the Detroit News that the executive director of the Holocaust Memorial Center on Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills,was appalled by the message.
"It's a mocking message from when Jews saw that message over the gates of concentration camps, and then learned what was going to happen after passing under that gate," Stephen Goldman said.
"The reality was that they were going to be killed."
Goldman also sees it as an insult to the auto industry.
"Does it mean that working in the auto plants is the same as working as slaves in a concentration camp?" Goldman said. "Yes, the Packard Plant is a derelict facility, but so are the concentration camps still in Europe, although some serve as museums.
