Transports to the Auschwitz concentration camp

On June 14, 1940, the German National Socialists took the first transport of Polish political prisoners, which consisted of 728 people, to the German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. To mark the anniversary, the Arolsen Archives and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum will present an exhibition on the fates of 14 prisoners from the camp in front of the memorial in June 2022.

Many of them were on the first transport, and some of their personal belongings are still kept in the Arolsen Archives. Helped by volunteers, the Arolsen Archives are looking for the families of the victims in order to return the stolen mementoes to them.

This online exhibition tells the stories of the persecuted persons and invites volunteers to start their own (re)search.

On June 14, 1940, the first transport of 728 Polish political prisoners arrived at the Auschwitz German Nazi concentration and extermination camp from the prison in Tarnow. From the beginning of the war, the Germans terrorized the Polish population and tried to crush any hint of resistance. Therefore, this group included soldiers, politicians, government officials, teachers, doctors, clergymen, as well as students and scouts.

The SS registered the prisoners of the first transport, assigning them numbers 31 to 758. They had to wear striped uniforms with a red triangle, which symbolized the category of “political prisoner.”

All of their personal belongings were taken from them and listed in the camp inventory as so-called “Effekten.” These items were recorded on index cards and then placed in envelopes, and if a prisoner was transferred to another concentration camp, their belongings would also be forwarded with them. These items would, thus, “travel" with the victim. Personal property of the Jews murdered in the gas chambers was immediately looted and exploited by the SS.

Some prisoners were transferred from Auschwitz to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg. Shortly before the liberation of Neuengamme, the German Nazis hid all of the "Effekten" elsewhere. However, they were discovered by the British Army.

After 1945, search bureaus in Germany attempted to return these personal belongings. In 1963, the Arolsen Archives (then known as the International Tracing Service) assumed responsibility for the nearly 5,000 remaining envelopes and resumed the search, often with the help of national Red Cross societies. The number of items returned each year decreased significantly after 1974. Due to limited resources and the ongoing East-West conflict, opportunities to continue active searches were exhausted.

In 2015, the Arolsen Archives published images of the personal items in a new digital archive. The number of returned items immediately increased, thanks in part to the support of volunteers from various countries. In 2016, we launched the #StolenMemory campaign and resumed our intensive search.

In April 1945, SS leader Heinrich Himmler ordered that no concentration camp inmate be allowed to fall into Allied hands. To cover up their crimes, the German Nazis began liquidating hundreds of camps throughout the Reich.

Thousands of surviving Neuengamme concentration camp prisoners were herded onto ships anchored in the Bay of Lübeck, a long distance from shore. With no access to drinking water or food, the emaciated prisoners were kept under appalling sanitary conditions on the overcrowded ships.

On May 3, 1945, due to a tragic mistake, British bombers sank the ships Cap Arcona and Thielbek. The Allies thought there were German soldiers aboard the ships. There were no lifeboats for the prisoners, and the SS had also dismantled anything that would have given them a chance to escape. Those who could, jumped overboard. German guards also shot at the prisoners who swam to shore. Of the more than 7,000 people who survived the camp and the death march, more than 6,400 died in the disaster.

Among the personal belongings preserved in the Arolsen Archives are those of Polish prisoners who perished during those tragic events in the Bay of Lübeck.

Sometimes it takes a few days, sometimes several months, or even years to locate the relatives of concentration camp victims whose belongings have been preserved. Every success, however, is the result of the dedication of the special search team from the Arolsen Archives and volunteers from all over the world who, in order to contribute to the commemoration of the victims of Nazi persecution, are very actively involved in the search.

In February 2022, after more than five years of the #StolenMemory campaign, we found the six-hundredth family. Our activities have gained momentum with the advent of social media. This has become an excellent platform for sharing tips and information between the institution and individuals. The support of volunteers is crucial because, in addition to online activities, they are able to assist us in local searches. Young people are also involved in these activities. A group of high school students, working with the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oświęcim, has already found four families.

We always strive to hand over the personal possessions of the victims to their relatives in person. Often these meetings are organized by the volunteers who found the family in question.

The relatives receive the looted belongings along with copies of documents that have been preserved in the Arolsen Archives about the persecuted person. Many of the relatives we talk to feel that this is not just a return of stolen items, but above all a symbolic homecoming for the person who is no longer there. It is also an opportunity to complete the family history, in which there were “blank spaces.”

In the concentration camps, people lost everything – the German occupiers robbed prisoners not only of their freedom, dignity, and rights, but also of the personal belongings they had with them at the time of their arrest.

The Arolsen Archives collection contains almost 2,500 such items – including jewelry, family photos, ID cards, watches, rosaries, and powder compacts. These personal items belonged to people from more than 30 countries – many of them from Poland and the former Soviet Union.

In 2016, the Arolsen Archives launched the #StolenMemory campaign to return these stolen memories to as many families as possible. The exhibit presents more than a dozen stories about the owners of these items – mainly those whose families have not yet been found.

Please join this campaign and help us return these looted mementoes to the relatives of those who owned them. Time is of the essence! Visit our website, where you will find photographs of the personal belongings as well as the names of the victims of repression. Information found there can be used to conduct your own research, and you can later share your valuable findings with us.

www.stolenmemory.org