After 70 Years, Volunteers At Auschwitz Discovered A Hidden Secret In This Mug

During World War II, there was a time when Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany. There, the Nazis established one of the most infamous concentration and extermination camps: Auschwitz.

During its years of operation, it is estimated that most of the 1.1 million to 1.5 million people who were murdered there were Jewish. Today, the site serves as both a memorial and a museum, where the countless lives ripped from the world can be honored and respected, and humanity can work hard to ensure that no one forgets the atrocities or repeats them.

Since Auschwitz is a museum, it houses artifacts, and among those artifacts are thousands of mugs once looted by Nazi soldiers or hidden by Jewish prisoners and refugees.

Recently, Auschwitz staff were prepping one such mug for exhibit when they noticed that the 70-year-old relic was not like every other one.

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Well secured under a false bottom, this mug contained a ring and a necklace.

auschwitz.org

Professional Historian and Director of Auschwitz Museum Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński said in a press release:

“Despite the passage of more than 70 years since the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, there are still cases of accidental discovery of objects hidden by the victims.The Germans incessantly lied to the Jews deported for extermination. They were told about resettlement, work, and life in a different location. They allowed the victims to take with them little luggage.”ekai

Cywiński continued:

“In this way, the Germans were confident that in the luggage – including clothes and items needed for life – they would find the last valuables of the deported families.”auschwitz.org

He also said:

“The hiding of valuable items—repeatedly mentioned in the accounts of survivors, and which was the reason for the ripping and careful search of clothes and suitcases in the warehouse for looted items—so-called 'Kanada'—proves, on the one hand, the awareness of the victims regarding the robbing nature of the deportation, but on the other hand, it shows that the Jewish families constantly had a ray of hope that these items would be required for their existence.”auschwitz.org

The team at Auschwitz is meticulous about documenting all of their finds, but because there are no identifying factors on the jewelry, finding the original owners would be next to impossible.

In the museum's statement, Hannah Kubik said:

“The jewelry found in the mug will be stored in the collections of the museum in a form reflecting the manner in which it had been hidden by the owner, as a testimony to the fate of the Jews deported to the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp.”jta