When the Germans invaded the former USSR during World War II, they established a concentration in the city of Majdanek. This camp housed Polish Jews and Russian prisoners of war. Today, the camp has been turned into a museum to highlight the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. It has also become an archaeological site.
An archaeological team from Australia went to Majdanek as part of a documentary being made about this death camp. The team included 4 survivors. These survivors have found jewelry, family heirlooms and coins that were buried by camp inmates more than 60 years ago.
For the survivors, it was as if the camp was still there. They could point to the exact spot where SS guards kept more than two thousand prisoners waiting for an entire day before being asked to march to the gas chambers. In all probability, it was during the waiting time that the prisoners tried to bury their treasures, as they did not want them to fall into the hands of the Nazis.
The archaeological team was headed by an Israeli archaeologist and the excavation lasted for 3 days. According to Edward Balawajder, director of the Majdanek Museum, the team dug 35 cm below the earth’s surface and found 50 items, including rings, wedding bands, coins and earrings. One of the coins unearthed was a ten dollar coin minted in 1894.
It is estimated that more than 360,000 prisoners were murdered in the Majdanek camp between the years 1941 and 1944. More than half of these prisoners were Jews. During the Holocaust, six million Jews were murdered in concentration camps and of these, half were from Poland. The pogrom initiated by the Nazis caused the death of 11 million people.
The discovery of treasures belonging to Holocaust victims is truly remarkable. Not only because of the significant value of the treasures, but because these items provide further evidence of the Holocaust. This evidence is necessary to educate future generations.
Many of the treasures unearthed at Majdanek are shipped to different Holocaust memorials around the world, including the US Holocaust Museum located in Washington DC, the Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Center located in Melbourne, Australia, and the Yad Vashem located in Israel. These items will continue to serve as reminders of what Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled faced during the Nazi invasion of Europe.