"Arbeit macht frei" is a German phrase meaning "work brings freedom" or "work shall set you free/will free you" or "work liberates".

In 1872, the German-nationalist author Lorenz Diefenbach used it as a title for a novel, which caused it to become well-known in nationalist circles. It was adopted by the Weimar government in 1928 as a slogan describing the effects of their desired policy of large-scale public work programmes to end unemployment. It was continued in this usage by the NSDAP when it came into power in 1933.

As either a sign of contempt for Judaic culture or as an ironic joke or satire, or a way of instilling false hope, this slogan was placed at the entrances of a number of Nazi concentration camps. Although it was common practice in Germany to post inscriptions of this sort at the entrances to institutional properties or large estates, the use of the slogan in this particular way was ordered by SS General Theodor Eicke, inspector of the concentration camps and first commandant of Dachau.

The slogan can still be seen at several sites, including those at Auschwitz I (although according to Auschwitz: A New History by BBC historian Laurence Rees, it was placed at this location by commandant Rudolf Höss who believed that doing menial work when he had been imprisoned during the Weimar Republic had helped him through the experience). At the entrance to Auschwitz, the letter "B" in the word "Arbeit" is upside-down. The slogan can also be seen at Dachau, Gross-Rosen, Sachsenhausen, and the Theresienstadt Ghetto-Camp (at Buchenwald, however, "Jedem das Seine" was used instead; which translates to "To each his own"). As a consequence, this saying has acquired very negative and sinister undertones in much of the western world.

In 1938, the Austrian political cabaret writer Jura Soyfer and the composer Herbert Zipper, then both prisoners at Dachau concentration camp, wrote the Dachaulied, the Dachau song. They had spent weeks marching in and out of the gates of the camp to forced work every day, and considered the motto "Arbeit macht frei" above the gates as 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 2004, The Libertines album of the same name was released with a track called Arbeit Macht Frei. The song explored the contradiction of the words 'arbeit macht frei' and the reality for concentration camp members, also showing people contradictions at the time of release about the Nazi's and behaviour.

German phrases | Nazi Germany | Unfree labor | Political slogans

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