Oswiecim, Poland – The note, written in pencil then rolled up and inserted in a bottle, contains the names of seven young people who probably thought they were doomed to die in the notorious Auschwitz death camp.
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A construction crew renovating a cellar near the Auschwitz site discovered the bottle hidden in a concrete wall, officials said Monday.
Dated Sept. 9, 1944, the note bears the names, camp numbers and hometowns of the seven prisoners – six from Poland and one from France.
“All of them are between the ages of 18 and 20,” the final sentence reads.
“They were young people who were trying to leave some trace of their existence behind them,” said Auschwitz museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt. He said two of the prisoners survived the camp but he did not have further details.
Workmen were tearing out a wall in the basement of a college building in the town of Oswiecim – which was called Auschwitz by the Nazis during World War II – when they discovered the bottle, college spokeswoman Monika Bartosz said.
She said the note appeared to have been written on a scrap from a cement bag.
The school’s three buildings, which are a few hundred meters (yards) from the camp, were used as warehouses during the war by Hitler’s SS troops. The prisoners were compelled to reinforce the cellar with concrete so it could serve as an air-raid shelter.
Museum experts have verified the authenticity of the note, which will be handed over to the museum in early May.
The Nazis set up the Auschwitz camp in 1940 in occupied Poland. At least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews – but also non-Jewish Poles, Gypsies and others – died in Auschwitz-Birkenau’s gas chambers, or from starvation, disease and forced labor, before Soviet troops liberated the camp on Jan. 27, 1945.
any of them alive nwo? if yes who and where? very interesting.
Wow Thats Interesting, Is Anyone Of Them Still Alive? It Would Be Nice To See How He Is Reading This Article, If Anyone Know Where We Can See The Names Should Please Post It Here, Thanks
It makes you think. Even if none are alive, we know they were there. They reminded us that when we use the word ‘holocaust’… we are minimizing them. These were PEOPLE… real people… who knew they had little chance to survive… but wanted you and I to know they were real… that they existed… that they had names… that they mattered… and no mater what that Iranian Haman and people like him say…. we know it was real because they are still telling us in ways like this…. They are still calling to us that we should never forget… not only never forget the holocaust as an historical event… but never forget that they were real people with names and purpose… as real as your wife… your child… your neighbor or your chavrusoh sitting across the table.
sorry for my complete lack of proper grammar.
Reply to #4
Look it was a gezeira. and throughout our history we have been killed, burned,and other nations have tried to have us destroyed and we have said NEVER AGAIN however its up to us to do Tshuvah and ask Hashem to have rachmonos on us and shoin! You can fight with courage, you can say never allow this to happen again however those are only empty words, for the fact remains Eisev hates Yisroel! Yishmoel hates Yisroel! This is a fact and will only change when Moshiach comes…
Let achmedinjad…. Ym”sh see some evidence on th holycost….
Oswiecim was a Yiddisher shtetl before the war. About 60% were yidden. Mostly Chassidim of Bobev, Sasov and Radomsk.
As an example, all the extended Silbiger families around the world come from Oswiecim – Oshpitzin in Yiddish.
what language was the note written in?????