During Germany’s occupation of Poland from 1939 until 1945, prisoner’s valuables – including wedding rings, watches, chains, and earrings – would be confiscated and placed in envelopes with the original owner’s details.
The Arolsen Archives, an international centre with information on around 17.5 million people, holds many of these items today. The organisation stores around 2,000 items seized from inmates from more than 30 countries.
Archive director Floriane Azoulay told The Independent they were only custodians of these possessions.
“Every object that we return is personal,” she said.
“And it’s the last personal thing a person had on them before they became a prisoner before they became a number. So it is a very important object for a family.”
In a ceremony in Warsaw, the organisation returned some of these possessions to the families of these inmates.
The Wasilewska family was given two amber crucifixes, part of a golden bracelet, and a gold wristwatch engraved with the initials KW. Another family, Wierzbicki, was given two rings and a gold chain.
A volunteer with the Arolsen Archives, Manuela Golc, said that many impacted families are unaware these possessions are being preserved.
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