Arbeit macht frei
German
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Literally, “Work makes [you] free”. The phrase has been used since at least the mid-19th century, appearing for example in the 1845 book Geld und Geist (“Money and spirit”) by German economist Heinrich Beta.
The decision to put it up over concentration camp gates has been attributed (e.g. by Harold Marcuse) to Theodor Eicke, a pioneering organizer of the Nazi camp system. It may have originally served no other purpose than to suggest to the inmates that by obedience and hard labour they could regain their freedom. (Releases did occur fairly regularly, although the criteria for them were highly arbitrary.) On the other hand, Eicke may already have intended it as a sarcastic taunt. This aspect is obvious at any rate in the later use at death camps like Auschwitz.
Pronunciation
[edit]Proverb
[edit]- work brings freedom; those who work thereby liberate themselves
- 1845, Heinrich Beta, Geld und Geist:
- Nicht der Glaube macht selig, nicht der Glaube an egoistische Pfaffen- und Adelzwecke, sondern die Arbeit macht selig, denn die Arbeit macht frei. Das ist nicht protestantisch oder katholisch, oder deutsch- oder christkatholisch, nicht liberal oder servil, das ist das allgemein menschliche Gesetz und die Grundbedingung alles Lebens und Strebens, alles Glückes und aller Seligkeit.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Usage notes
[edit]- It is general knowledge in the German-speaking countries that the National Socialists set this phrase over the gates of several major concentration camps. All contemporary use of the phrase alludes to this in some or other way. In certain contexts, such use may be punishable.