Signifying the crucifixion of Jesus, the cross is a potent symbol--dear, even sacred, to Christians but not to Jews, who often have been persecuted under its domination. At Auschwitz, the cross has been more than potent; it has been a volatile symbol, one that has strained relations between Poland and Israel as well as between Christian and Jewish groups worldwide. In July 1998 a right-wing group of Polish Roman Catholics, determined to maintain Christian symbols at the former Nazi death camp in spite of strong opposition from Jews, planted more than 50 crosses outside Auschwitz I, the original part of the camp complex. By September the crosses numbered more than 300. The crosses were located at a site where the Nazis had once executed 152 Poles. At this same site another very large, 26-foot cross, visible from the camp's interior, had been erected more than ten years earlier. This particularly large cross had been relocated from Auschwitz-Birkenau, the camp's major killing center, where the symbol was initially used on June 7, 1979, when Pope John Paul II celebrated mass there during his first papal visit to his native Poland. Fearing that the more recent placement of this particular cross was jeopardized--its presence infuriated many Jews--the Catholic protesters planted a field of crosses in response. Poland's Catholic bishops condemned this response and urged that all but the large papal cross be removed.