Everything about Arbeit Macht Frei totally explained
"
Arbeit macht frei" is a
German phrase meaning "work brings freedom" or "work shall set you free/will free you" or "work liberates" and, literally in English, "work makes (one) free".
The slogan is known in the English speaking world for being placed at the entrances to a number of
Nazi concentration camps.
Origin
In 1872 the German-nationalist author
Lorenz Diefenbach used the expression "
Arbeit macht frei" as the title for a novel, causing the expression to become well-known in
nationalist circles. It was adopted in 1928 by the
Weimar government as a slogan extolling the effects of their desired policy of large-scale
public works programmes to end unemployment, and mocking the
Medieval slogan "
Stadtluft macht frei" ("City air brings freedom"). It was continued in this usage by the
NSDAP (Nazi Party) when it came to power in 1933.
Nazi use
The slogan "
Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of
Nazi concentration camps "as a kind of mystical declaration that self-sacrifice in the form of endless labour does in itself bring a kind of spiritual freedom."
Although it was common practice in
Germany to post inscriptions of this sort at entrances to institutional properties and large estates, the slogan's use in this instance was ordered by
SS General
Theodor Eicke, inspector of
concentration camps and first commandant of
Dachau Concentration Camp.
The slogan can still be seen at several sites, including the entrance to
Auschwitz I—although, according to
Auschwitz: a New History, by BBC historian
Laurence Rees, it was placed there by commandant
Rudolf Höß, who believed that doing
menial work during his own imprisonment under the
Weimar Republic had helped him through the experience. At Auschwitz, the upper bowl in the "B" in "ARBEIT" is wider than the lower bowl, appearing to some as upside-down. Several geometrically constructed
sans-serif typefaces of the 1920s experimented with this variation.
The slogan can also be seen at the
Dachau concentration camp,
Gross-Rosen,
Sachsenhausen, and the
Theresienstadt Ghetto-Camp.
At
Buchenwald, however, "
Jedem das Seine" ("To each his own") was used instead.
In 1938 the
Austrian political
cabaret writer
Jura Soyfer and the
composer Herbert Zipper, while prisoners at
Dachau Concentration Camp, wrote the "
Dachaulied" (The Dachau Song). They had spent weeks marching in and out of the camp's gate to daily
forced labor, and considered the motto "
Arbeit macht frei" over the gate an insult. The song repeats the phrase cynically as a "lesson" taught by Dachau. (The first verse is translated in the article on
Jura Soyfer.)
In popular culture
- British band The Libertines wrote a song entitled "Arbeit Macht Frei". Their song was later used in the 2006 film Children of Men.
- episode "Pirates of the Third Reich" depicts gruesome medical experiments by a killer. Over his lab door is the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei".
- British death metal/grindcore band Carcass recorded a song on their penultimate album Heartwork entitled "Arbeit Macht Fleisch".
- Welsh band Manic Street Preachers' song "A Design for Life" references the phrase in the line "Libraries gave us power, then work came and made us free".
- During two episodes of the BBC television program Top Gear, James May says the phrase to Jeremy Clarkson. Once during the caravan holiday episode and once during the road works episode.
- On January 31, 2008, during an episode of the nightly call-in game show Night Loft on German commercial television station ProSieben, the game show hostess used the phrase in a mocking tone to a caller, resulting in her dismissal.
- Portland, Oregon based band The Thermals references this line in the song "An Ear For Baby"
- The Danish punk band "Under Al Kritik" made a song entitled "Arbeit Macht Frei" in 2007.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Arbeit Macht Frei'.
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