WARSAW (AP) — The Polish police said early Monday that they had found the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign that was stolen Friday from the gate of Auschwitz.

The steel sign, whose German words translate to “Work makes you free,” was found in northern Poland, a police spokeswoman, Katarzyna Padlo, said. Five men ages 25 to 39 were taken into custody and were being taken to Krakow for questioning, Ms. Padlo said.

A police spokesman, Dariusz Nowak, said the sign had been cut into three pieces, each containing one of the words.

The police would not reveal any details about how the sign was found or speculate on the motive of those who took it.

The Krakow police, the regional command for the area that includes the Auschwitz museum, are in charge of the investigation.

More than one million people, mostly Jews but also Gypsies, Poles and others, died in the gas chambers or from starvation and disease while performing forced labor at Auschwitz, which Nazi Germany built in occupied Poland during World War II.

The camp, which became the world’s largest Jewish cemetery, was liberated by Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 1945.

The museum is preparing for solemn observations of the 65th anniversary of the liberation.

The predawn theft on Friday of the 16-foot sign, one of the Holocaust’s most chilling and notorious symbols, had set off outrage around the world.

The grim Nazi slogan was so counter to the actual function of the camp that it has been etched into history. The phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei” appeared at the entrances of other Nazi camps, including Dachau and Sachsenhausen, but the long, curving sign at Auschwitz was the best known.

An exact replica of the sign, produced when the original underwent restoration years ago, was quickly hung in its place on Friday at the Auschwitz memorial site, where barracks, watchtowers and rows of barbed wire stand as a testament to the atrocities of Nazi Germany.