The iron sign over the gate to the Auschwitz memorial with the phrase “Arbeit macht frei” — “Work sets you free” — has been stolen, the Polish police said Friday. Katarzyna Padlo, a police spokeswoman quoted by The Associated Press, said it was believed the 16-foot-long sign over the main entrance to Auschwitz was taken before dawn Friday. She said the authorities had begun an intensive search. The sign was erected soon after Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi extermination camp, was built near Krakow in May 1940. More than a million people died at Auschwitz, mainly Jews but also Polish political prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma families, gay men and lesbians, people with disabilities and prisoners of conscience. The Red Army liberated the camp on Jan. 27, 1945. On Thursday, an agreement was reached in Berlin on providing about $90 million to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to maintain the memorial and museum at the camp. The Foreign Ministry said the buildings were deteriorating because of age and the weather.