Handwritten Note Found Inside The Shoes Of A Boy Who Was Killed At Auschwitz
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and MuseumThis pair of shoes contained the boy’s first and last name, mode of transport, and registration number.
The death toll of the Holocaust stands at a gut-wrenching 11 million people, and the genocide decimated Europe’s Jewish population by two-thirds. Of all the death camps where these atrocities were carried out, Auschwitz in Poland remains the most infamous and the most deadly.
After decades of research, some experts believe that there’s little left to uncover at Auschwitz. However, new historical discoveries at the concentration camp are still shedding light on the violence that occurred there. This year, the shoes of a six-year-old victim were found with a handwritten note inside.
Historical discoveries like these help put a human face on the genocide’s overwhelming death toll, which is so vast that it’s difficult to comprehend.
In mid-July, experts at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum announced the discovery of the shoes’ inscription, which detailed the child’s registration number, the mode of transport to the camp, and his name: Amos Steinberg.
He had arrived in Auschwitz in 1944, and died there mere months before its liberation.
Daniel BRIOT/FlickrThe train tracks that led to Auschwitz’s gate.
“From surviving documents, it follows that the mother and her son were deported to Auschwitz in the same transport,” the museum explained. “It is likely that they were both murdered in the gas chamber after selection. We may presume that she was most likely the one who ensured that her child’s shoe was signed.”
Researchers discovered Steinberg’s shoes while renovating Block 17 of the main camp, which was responsible for the murder of more than 1 million men, women, and children. Made operational in 1940, it churned out death for years before the Allies won the war and freed any survivors.
For Steinberg, his tragic death began with imprisonment in the Theresienstadt Ghetto on Aug. 10, 1942. His father had been separated from him and his mother upon arriving in Auschwitz, and was transferred Dachau in 1944. The father survived — only to hear that his wife and son had been murdered.
Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-BirkenauAll of the uncovered items are being prepared for further analysis by the museum.
In the end, this particular revelation serves as far more than a historical discovery. It stands as a stark reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust.
