Arolsen Archives hands over watch, earring, brooch and powder compact as part of efforts to retrace the fate of Third Reich’s 17.5 million victims
WARSAW, Poland — A German archive on Tuesday returned a watch, earrings and other personal effects to the families of Nazi victims in Poland as part of an ongoing campaign to honor those killed at concentration camps.
The items, which also included a brooch and a powder compact, were returned at a ceremony in Warsaw by the Arolsen Archives, which aim to retrace the fate of the Nazi regime’s 17.5 million victims.
The Archives contain around 30 million documents, including the archives of the SS and the Gestapo, records from the concentration camps, and hundreds of envelopes containing the personal items of former prisoners.
As part of its #StolenMemory campaign, the Archives have since 2016 worked to track down the descendants of camp victims and return their property in order to honor their memory.
“Each found family and each returned item is a gateway to reconstructing the fate of the victims and restoring their memory,” the Archives said in a press release.
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The event in the Polish capital was held in anticipation of the 80th anniversary of the doomed Warsaw Uprising against Nazi occupation.
The items returned Tuesday had belonged to two civilian Poles detained by the Nazis during the uprising and sent to their deaths at concentration camps.
The uprising began on August 1, 1944, and lasted for two months before it was defeated by German forces.
More than 16,000 participants were killed during the revolt, along with an estimated 150,000 Polish civilians.
This year, the Archives aim to return over 100 items belonging to individuals deported from Warsaw as the uprising took place.
The project’s organizers hope to bring voice to victim histories and offer closure to their descendants through the items.
“We believe that together, we will succeed in… telling 100 still-unknown histories,” the Archives said.
