Which phrase was displayed at the entrance gate of Auschwitz I concentration camp?

“Arbeit macht frei” was the phrase displayed at the entrance gate of Auschwitz I concentration camp.

The German words translate as “Work sets you free.” The slogan was a cruel piece of Nazi deception: prisoners were told that labor and obedience might bring release, although the camp system subjected them to starvation, disease, violence, forced labor, and mass murder.

The sign at Auschwitz I was made by prisoners, and the letter B is famously inverted. The phrase also appeared at the entrances of several other Nazi camps, including Dachau, Sachsenhausen, and Gross-Rosen, so it is not unique to Auschwitz.

Auschwitz I was the original camp, established in 1940. The larger Auschwitz II-Birkenau complex later became the principal killing center within the Auschwitz camp system. The slogan should therefore not be confused with “Jedem das Seine,” a different phrase displayed at the entrance to Buchenwald.