Museum officials at the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland have restored the metal entrance sign damaged in a theft 17 months ago.

The “Arbeit macht frei” sign was stolen by a gang of Polish thieves acting at the behest of a Swedish far-right-winger.

Technicians unveiled the restored sign in the laboratory of the camp museum.

Most of the work to restore the damaged sign was done on site, but a master blacksmith welded it back together.

The museum’s director, Piotr Cywinski, said the sign would probably form part of a new exhibition.

A copy of the original has been placed above the entrance gate.

Thieves had cut up the black wrought-iron sign into its three constituent words in order to fit it into their getaway car after taking it down from the main gate.

Following a nationwide search, police found the sign a few days later in a rural area hundreds of kilometres away.

Five Polish men have been convicted of carrying out the theft on behalf of a Swedish man, Anders Hoegstroem, who helped found the far-right National Socialist Front party in Sweden in 1994.

He is serving a prison sentence in his homeland following his conviction in Poland.

(Source: BBC)