A Polish woman and her son last week turned over a cache of at least 500 objects recovered more than 80 years ago from the Auschwitz death camp, including a child’s ragdoll and a prisoner’s uniform.
The mother and son gave the objects to the Foundation of Memory Sites Near Auschwitz-Birkenau on condition of anonymity, according to Dagmar Kopijasz, a member of the foundation’s council.
The woman said that her father had collected them before the former death camp was declared a museum. He often went there immediately after liberation to help with cleaning. He stored all the items in an attic. They are in varying states of preservation, according to Kopijasz.
The cache is one of the “most extradentary finds” in recent years at Auschwitz, Kopijasz told JNS. The state museum that preserves the state museum is scheduled to host the 80th anniversary commemorations of the camp’s liberation on Monday, Jan. 27. Many dignitaries and heads of state will attend. The Israeli delegation will be represented by Yoav Kisch, the country’s education minister.

The objects filled a van that the woman’s son drove to the Foundation’s offices on Jan. 19. The Foundation of Memory Sites Near Auschwitz-Birkenau intends to catalog and display some of the items from the cache on Jan. 27 at the Auschwitz museum.
The cache includes suitcases, one signed “Ungermann” and “transport 3262.” Among the objects are clothing items, including the infamous striped prisoner uniform, and dishes. The objects may also contain artifacts that belonged to SS guards at Auschwitz, Kopijasz said.
“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. The van she and her son drove to us was full of things. We have been collecting camp relics for over 20 years, but we have never seen such a huge number at once,” Kopijasz told TVP3.
Yacov Livne, Israel’s ambassador to Poland, said the cache also contained some Judaica items.
“Despite the support of the Polish government and private donations, many Holocaust-related sites around Auschwitz-Birkenau were neglected or destroyed. I hope that on the 80th anniversary of its liberation, a solution would be found to preserve what remains,” Livne tweeted on Thursday.
In 2024, more than 1.8 million people visited Auschwitz. The museum received funding from Poland’s government to the tune of about $8 million that year. JNS
{Matzav.com}