Is Sign At Decaying Packard Plant A Chilling Reference To Nazi Death Camp? | City Of Detroit | Detroit Free Press | Freep.com

New Packard Plant Letters Bear Uncanny Resemblance To Auschwitz Sign
FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2008 file photo, pedestrians walk by the abandoned Packard plant in Detroit. Dominic Cristini, who claims ownership of the Packard plant through Bioresource Inc., is awaiting demolition permits. He says he wants to start demolition within a month. He estimates it will cost $6 million to raze the plant. The plant closed in the mid 1950s. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2008 file photo, pedestrians walk by the abandoned Packard plant in Detroit. Dominic Cristini, who claims ownership of the Packard plant through Bioresource Inc., is awaiting demolition permits. He says he wants to start demolition within a month. He estimates it will cost $6 million to raze the plant. The plant closed in the mid 1950s. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

Big letters have been placed on the overpass at the Packard Automotive Plant in Detroit that read in German "Work will make you Free," concerning some metro Detroiters, given the resemblance to an infamous sign at the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz. It's unclear who put up the letters.

In capital red letters on a white background, the new sign at the decaying site on Detroit's east side reads: "Arbeit Macht Frei," the exact same words at 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.

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