An Adams County man who designed a Halloween parade float featuring imagery from Auschwitz concentration camps admits he made a mistake.

“I had no ill intent,” Galen S. Shelly told PennLive on Saturday. “I made a mistake and I am deeply sorry.”

The float was created for the St. Joseph School and entered in Thursday’s Hanover Halloween Parade.

Shelly, who was the head designer and does not have children enrolled in the school, said he didn’t realize the impact of “Arbeit Macht Frei,” the phrase he selected.

The float depicted what appears to be a look-alike of one of the main gates at the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp with the phrase.

That phrase - which translates literally to “Work Makes You Free” - was commonly posted at World War II-era concentration camps throughout Euro

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