Scotsman.com News - Thieves steal Germany's last swastika from gates

THE last swastika on a German public building has been stolen just before officials were going to remove it. Thieves climbed scaffolding on the medieval gates of the north German city of Lübeck, near Hamburg, and removed the 4in square symbol using a stone-cutting saw. Police are hunting the culprits, who if caught can expect to be charged with theft and defacing a public building. Despite the swastika having been banned for almost 60 years because of its links with the Nazis, the city authorities in Lübeck held back from erasing the symbol because it was relatively small and for fear of damaging the historic building, which dates from 1478.