Two wristwatches and a signet ring bring back memories of Stanislaus Szydlewski. His nephew Harry Klawezynski remembers that his uncle was interned in Neuengamme concentration camp for a year and weighed just 30 kilograms when he arrived home. On February 21, 2026, #StolenMemory volunteer Nathalie Letierce-Liebig handed over Stanislaus Szydlewski’s…
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A year ago, pupils in various schools across Greece set out to locate the relatives of a number of Greek victims of Nazi persecution, with the goal of returning personal belongings taken from them during the war. All the families the pupils were searching for have now been found. Between…
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Polish #StolenMemory volunteers and supporters gathered in Warsaw on January 9 for their third annual meeting. Volunteers from Ukraine took part for the first time – a campaign and a new traveling exhibition currently underway there are encouraging more people to get involved in the search for families. Over the…
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Students from three schools in Germany, Poland, and Ukraine took part in the “Youth in Search of Traces” seminar, held in Łańcut and Oświęcim in June. The event was organized by the International Youth Meeting Centre Oświęcim/Auschwitz (IYMC) and the Arolsen Archives. Gemeinsame Workshops, Gespräche, Archivrecherchen sowie Besuche an…
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Zofia Mościcka survived the Second World War and two concentration camps. After her liberation, she dreamed of owning a ring with a red gemstone – just like the one that had been taken from her during her time in the camps. Eighty years later, that very ring was returned to…
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On July 10, a special ceremony took place at the Ravensbrück Memorial: a ring that once belonged to Halina Kucharczyk, a Polish victim of Nazi persecution who survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, was returned to her granddaughters Sylwia and Anna Kucharczyk. One of our #StolenMemory volunteers had succeeded…
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Since 2022, the Arolsen Archives have presented the traveling exhibition #StolenMemory at 33 venues in Poland. Now, thanks to the German Foreign Office decision to continue its support through 2026, a further 20 venues in Poland are planned. And for the first time, a #StolenMemory poster exhibition will take place…
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Manuel Montes traveled from Australia to Madrid in early October, a distance of 17,000 km as the crow flies, to receive the last personal belongings of his great-granduncle Gabriel Álvarez Arjona. The Nazis had confiscated these items from Gabriel 80 years earlier in the Neuengamme concentration camp. After his long…
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The Arolsen Archives have eight envelopes containing the personal belongings of Greek victims of Nazi persecution. On June 20, 2024, we were able to return one of these envelopes for the very first time. It was handed over to the granddaughter of resistance fighter Vasilios Kontogeorgiou at the Greek Embassy…
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