'Arbeit Macht Frei': Nazi Slogans Show Up at Illinois Rally Protesting Coronavirus Lockdown | Haaretz |

The use of an infamous Nazi slogan featured on the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in an Illinois protest against coronavirus pandemic shutdowns, along with other Nazi imagery, has sparked widespread condemnation.  

An Illinois resident protests #COVID restrictions w/ the 3 words at #Auschwitz entrance--Arbeit Macht Frei.

Those words--Work Sets You Free--were a savage Nazi hoax for slave labor & gas chambers.

JB in the sign refers to state's Jewish governor.

Shameful. Shocking. Sickening. pic.twitter.com/TnDQFFYJHD

— David Harris (@DavidHarrisAJC) May 2, 2020

"Arbeit Macht Frei," a German phrase meaning "work sets you free", was famously featured atop the iron gates at the entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as other Nazi concentration camps.

"Arbeit macht frei" was a false, cynical illusion the SS gave to prisoners of the #Auschwitz camp. Those words became one of the icons of human hatred. It's painful to see this symbol instrumentalized.and abused. It's a symptom of moral & intellectual degeneration.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) February 4, 2020

Another protester was photographed with a sign featuring a swastika and the words "Heil Pritzker" in reference to Governor Pritzker, who is Jewish.

Thousends of citizens protest against the lockdown in Michigan that is hit by #coronavirus. Some are heavily armed and shout `Heil Witmer' against governor Gretchen Whitmer.
All you see happening now in USA is more polarization. Freedom has a price. #Covid_19 #lockdown pic.twitter.com/VsenRwitdO

— Ruud Spaargaren (@RuudSpaargaren) April 16, 2020

Eichmann's Men by Hans Safrian