The museum at the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz said Wednesday it has dismissed the security guard in charge last month when the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign was stolen, a report said.

"We found that the fault was human error. The head of the security team on service at the time of the incident has been dismissed," said museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt, according to the PAP news agency.

"The guard waited too long before alerting the commander in chief of the security service and the police," the spokesman said.

Two other security guards who were suspended after the theft have returned to work, he added.

Police recovered the five-metre (16-foot) metal sign -- which means "Work Will Set You Free" in German -- that was stolen on December 18 two days later in northern Poland and arrested five Polish men.

A Swedish former neo-Nazi has also been indicted in connection with the theft.

The sign above Auschwitz's gateway has long symbolised the horror of the camp where some 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews, fell victim to Nazi German genocide.

The Nazis created the camp in occupied Poland in 1940. It was in operation until Soviet troops liberated it in 1945.

(AFP)