This is an absolutely fascinating – and sad – story I found on AP. Some construction workers in Oświęcim, the city the Nazis renamed Auschwitz, found a handwritten note hidden in a bottle in a concrete wall. According to the newswire,
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.
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.
The school’s three buildings, which are a few hundred meters (yards) from the camp, were used as warehouses during the war by the SS, the paramilitary organization faithful to Adolf Hitler’s racial ideology. 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.
I haven’t really written about Auschwitz on this blog yet, but is there anyone who hasn’t heard about the atrocities?
A trip to Auschwitz wouldn’t certainly be classified as a pleasant experience, far from it. It’s a very sobering one. And one you need to go through at some stage in your life.
