Arbeit macht frei
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German
Etymology
Arbeit (“work”) + macht (“makes”) + frei (“free”). The phrase has been used since at least the early 1800s, and appears for example in Heinrich Beta's 1845 Geld und Geist. How the National Socialists came to have an affinity for the phrase is unclear; it may have been a reference to concentration camps' ostensible purpose as work camps. Harold Marcuse attributes the decision to use it over concentration camp gates to Theodor Eicke.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Proverb
- Work makes you free; work brings freedom.
- 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
The National Socialists (Nazis) set this phrase over the gates of several major concentration camps, for which reason it is only rarely used today.