#StolenMemory

After the war, his mother, who had received the last sign of life in February 1943, searched for her son. Bolek, as family and friends called him, was only 17 years old and a boy scout.

However, the Red Cross searched for him unsuccessfully. So even his nieces did not know their uncle’s fate until the Arolsen Archives, thanks to the help of journalist Jowita Flankowska, returned the necklace with the silver cross and a wristwatch. The documents in Arolsen show that Bolesław Hermanowicz was transported from Auschwitz to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg only a few weeks after he had written the letter to his mother Antonia. His further fate is unknown.

The SS later deported him to the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he managed to write a letter to his mother in the fall of 1943. He survived the camp and returned to Poland after the war.

Wilhelm Tomasik’s grandson undertook a search in the Arolsen Archives online archive and found the documents and photos that had been taken from his grandfather at the time of his arrest. Thanks to this, these items could finally return to their rightful owners.

He was assigned prisoner number 95 and classified as a political prisoner. The SS later transferred him to the Neuengamme concentration camp. His prisoner registration card from Neuengamme states that he was a salesman, and his secondary job was as a cook. Edward Golik probably did not survive Neuengamme.

His personal belongings provide some insight into his life before he was imprisoned: photos, one with a stamp from Rabka-Zdrój, and a border crossing pass issued by the German occupation authorities, signed in 1939 in Cracow. The destination indicated on the pass is Łódź, Poland.

His student ID shows that his father’s name was Wojciech. In June 1940, at the age of just 18, Ludwik Grąz was deported by the Nazis on the first transport to Auschwitz, where he was assigned prisoner number 82. Later he was imprisoned in the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, where his prisoner number was 17956.

Not much is known about the fate of Ludwik Grąz. He probably died in May 1945 in the Bay of Lübeck when ships were bombed, resulting in the death of over 6,000 concentration camp prisoners.

On June 14, 1940, the German occupiers deported him on the first transport to Auschwitz, where his prisoner number was 158. There are no documents that show when the SS transferred Edmund Pawliszyn to the Neuengamme concentration camp, his last known whereabouts.

One of the few pieces of additional information can be found in postwar documents in the Arolsen Archives: In 1948, Edmund Pawliszyn’s uncle, Stefan Olszaniecki, was searching for his missing nephew. His correspondence indicates that the young man had studied law before his arrest.

In 1962 the Arolsen Archives took over the “personal effects” of former prisoners of Neuengamme, including Edmund Pawliszyn’s wristwatch.

One of the few traces of the young man can be found in the camp’s medical treatment book. The last entry relating to him is from November 12, 1943. He was probably taken on a transport to Neuengamme concentration camp between August 25 and 27, 1944.

Only one of Zygmunt Slęzak’s personal effects made it through the war and was discovered by British soldiers: a pocket watch. The word “Foreign” can be found on the watch face. This was a mark often used in Great Britain for goods imported from abroad. On the back of the watch the letters Z and S are engraved, Zygmunt Slęzak’s initials.

After the liberation, US soldiers and former prisoners were able to secure many of the camp’s files, which are now stored in the Arolsen Archives.

Several documents relating to Franz Gil have been preserved, including a registry office card which indicates that he was a laborer. The records show his tragic odyssey from one concentration camp to the next: from Dachau to Auschwitz, and then back and forth between Neuengamme and Dachau for forced labor. These transports took place often, and they were deadly for the prisoners. The last known document about him comes from Neuengamme in September 1942. It says he had contracted tuberculosis.

There he attended primary school and the “No. 868 Stanisława Kostki” secondary school for boys. His student ID and school reports provide an insight into this period. He also carried two photos of his father, Czesław, a police commissioner.

When Waldemar Rowiński was 17, the SS deported him as a political prisoner on the first transport to Auschwitz. He was transferred to the Neuengamme concentration camp on March 12, 1943. On May 3, 1945, he died when the Cap Arcona sank in the Bay of Lübeck. Waldemar Rowiński was buried in Neustadt.

He was registered there as a political prisoner on June 20, 1940, and was assigned the number 866. The SS later sent him to the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he was given the prisoner number 18425.

Mieczysław Borowiec died in May 1945 in the bombing of the Cap Arcona and was buried in Sierksdorf near the Bay of Lübeck. The last possessions he had with him when he was arrested have been preserved. They include a case with his initials. His pen is marked with “KL Auschwitz.” The SS had taken these objects from him and sent them to Neuengamme when he was transferred.

His prisoner number at Auschwitz was E-1552, which indicates that the Nazis classified him as an “Erziehungshäftling” (re-education prisoner). Mieczysław Bąkowski was released again in May 1942, but in October he was held in the Hamburg “Untersuchungshaftanstalt” (remand center) for five months.

All that is known about his fate after this is that he was deported to the Neuengamme concentration camp. The few personal items that Mieczysław Bąkowski had with him when he was arrested included a post office savings book and a ring with a blue stone.

Stefan Suderowicz was one of the first 728 political prisoners from Tarnów who were deported to Auschwitz by the Nazis on June 14, 1940. He was later imprisoned in the Neuengamme concentration camp, where his prisoner number was 17923. Documents show that he was assigned to an electricians’ work detail. He probably died on May 3, 1945, when ships carrying concentration camp prisoners were bombed in the Bay of Lübeck.

The young man’s personal belongings reveal nothing about his life prior to his arrest. The only item held by the Arolsen Archives is his wristwatch.

Just one day later, the metalworker was sent to Neuengamme concentration camp. He probably spent nearly three years there, until the camp was cleared. One of the last traces of Sylvin Szabrański is an entry in the list of the Neuengamme camp hospital from April 4, 1944. There are indications that he died in the Bay of Lübeck.

The last personal possession he had with him when he was arrested was a wristwatch with a brown leather strap. 

In that year alone, more than 11,000 prisoners were sent to this camp south of Hamburg. Neuengamme was established in 1938 as a sub-camp of Sachsenhausen, and the SS forced the prisoners there to work in a brick factory. From 1940, the prisoners had to transform the site into an independent concentration camp, with barracks, watchtowers and fencing they built themselves.

Very little is known about the fate of Emil Baczyk. The Arolsen Archives currently hold a fountain pen that was the only personal item he had with him. He probably did not survive Neuengamme.

On October 7, 1940, the SS deported him from Tarnów to Auschwitz, where he was registered with the prisoner number 5912. From March 1943 he was a prisoner in Neuengamme concentration camp. His prisoner registration card says that he was a medic, and in the concentration camp he worked as a nurse.

The SS cleared Neuengamme shortly before the end of the war and sent the remaining prisoners to the Bay of Lübeck, where they were forced to board the Cap Arcona, Athen and Thielbek. Stanisław Król was one of the more than 6,000 concentration camp prisoners who died in the bombing of these ships on May 3, 1945.