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 her granddaughter. This was thanks to the efforts of students from High School No. 1 in Łańcut, who found Zofia’s family while taking part in our German-Polish-Ukrainian #StolenMemory educational project.

On March 20, 2025, a group of students returned Zofia Mościcka’s personal effects to her granddaughter, Elżbieta Kruszyńska, at the German-Polish Youth Office (GPYO) in Warsaw. The students from High School No. 1 in Łańcut who successfully located the family were Michalina Ambicka, Michalina Kępska, Nikola Kubisz, Nikola Leszczyńska, Małgorzata Pasieczna, and Nina Ziajka, who worked on the project under the guidance of their teacher, Ms. Urszula Mach. The group had previously attended a German-Polish-Ukrainian seminar in Oświęcim alongside students from Christian Rauch School in Bad Arolsen and High School No. 53 in Kyiv. The seminar was organized by the International Youth Meeting Centre Oświęcim/Auschwitz (IYMC) and the Arolsen Archives.

During the seminar, the participants learned how to use archival collections and how to draft search appeals and post them on social media platforms. They also received guidance on locating graves and contacting various institutions to obtain information about relatives of victims of persecution.

Unhealed wounds

The topics covered during the seminar were particularly painful for the Ukrainian participants. Many have loved ones who have suffered fates similar to those of family members who were killed or persecuted during WWII. Angela Beljak (Head of the Public History Department at Fernuniversität Hagen and staff member at High School No. 53 in Kyiv) and Oleksandra Belshyna (history and art teacher at the same school and school coordinator of the “Youth in Search of Traces” project) spoke about the challenges of tracing relatives of victims of Nazi persecution in a country at war. Beljak emphasized that the Soviet regime suppressed the commemoration of missing family members for decades, inflicting deep wounds that remain unhealed to this day. In this context, the return of personal belongings takes on new meaning. “It reveals the full tragedy of the war and highlights the brutality and senselessness of the current war in Ukraine,” said Ms. Beljak.

Stories hidden in archives

Zofia Mościcka was arrested by the Gestapo on May 10, 1944, and subsequently deported to the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp. By that time, she was already a widow and a mother of two. She was registered as a political prisoner, and the SS confiscated all her personal belongings, including the ring set with a red gemstone and a gold ring.

After several months in Ravensbrück, Zofia was transferred to Neuengamme concentration camp and was probably sent to one of its sub-camps some time later. In the final days of the war, Zofia was rescued on one of the Swedish Red Cross’s “White Buses,” which brought her to Sweden. In October 1945, she returned to Poland aboard the “Kastelholm.”

A note left on a grave

While searching for Zofia’s relatives, the students came across her grave in the Bródno cemetery in Warsaw. Since the cemetery administration was not permitted to share any contact details, the young people resorted to a method that had proved successful in other cases: they left a note with a message and a telephone number on the gravestone.

“I couldn’t believe it at first. I thought it was some kind of scam. I was so scared that I asked my husband to call the number,” recalls Elżbieta Kruszyńska. Her husband Stanisław made the phone call and spoke with Urszula Mach, the students’ teacher, who told him the whole story. “It was unbelievable,” Urzula Mach adds, “I was speechless when I heard that Zofia’s relatives were on the other end of the line.”

“We didn’t know that Grandma had been held in concentration camps. She told us she had worked for a German farmer, but she never mentioned the camps,” Zofia’s granddaughter explained. She went on to recall that Zofia had rarely spoken about the war. She had often been ill, but still stayed cheerful and smiled a lot. And she used to make the most beautiful tablecloths. Zofia Mościcka passed away in Warsaw in 1996 at the age of 88. After the ceremony, her family, the students, and others involved in the project laid flowers on her grave.

Other searches

The head teacher of Łańcut High School praised the project, saying, “That was the best history lesson imaginable.” So it came as no surprise when the next German-Polish-Ukrainian youth seminar took place in Łańcut in June 2025. Students from Kyiv, Brandenburg an der Havel, and Łańcut took part. The seminar aimed to give participants the opportunity to talk about their experiences and start searches for the families of other missing persons. The Arolsen Archives still hold around 2,000 items that are waiting to be returned to their rightful owners.