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Identity Tags Worn by 4 Jewish Children Murdered at Sobibor Unearthed in Archaeological Excavation

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By: TPS

Identity tags worn by four Jewish children who were deported to the Sobibor death camp in Poland and murdered there have recently been unearthed in an archaeological excavation at the site.

The tags, metal pendants worn around the children’s necks, belonged to four children aged 5–11 from Amsterdam, Holland. The tags bear their names, date of birth and addresses.

The extraordinary archaeological excavation, begun prior to the construction of the new visitors’ center at the camp, is being conducted by Wojciech Mazurek from Poland, Yoram Haimi from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Ivar Schute from Holland, with the assistance of local residents.

The tags belonged to Lea Judith De La Penha, Deddie Zak, Annie Kapper, and David Juda Van der Velde.

Haimi said that “as far as we know, identity tags with children’s names have only been found at Sobibor, and nowhere else. Since the tags are very different from each other, it is evident that this was probably not some organized effort.”

“The children’s identity tags were prepared by their parents, who were probably desperate to ensure that the children’s relatives could be located in the chaos of the Second World War,” he explained.

“Lea, Annie and Deddie’s tags have enabled us to link faces and stories to the names, which until now had only been anonymous entries in Nazi lists. Archaeological excavation provides us with an opportunity to tell the victims’ stories and to honor their memory,” he added.

Memorial to those murdered at the Sobibor extermination camp. Photo Credit: Britannica.com

To discover the children’s details, the archaeologists contacted the Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork, which was used as a transit camp in the Holocaust for Jews being deported from Holland to Eastern Europe and is now a visitors center and memorial site.

“I have been excavating at Sobibor for 10 years,” shared Haimi, “but this is the hardest day I have ever had. As we stood holding the tags in the field, beside the crematoria, we contacted the center and we gave them the names. They responded immediately. By phone, we received photos of smiling young children.”

“The hardest thing was to learn that some of the children whose tags we held in our hands reached Sobibor on a children’s transport – 1,300 little children, aged 4–8, who were sent here to die alone, without their parents. I looked at the photos and asked myself, how could anyone have been so cruel?” he said.

Lea Judith De La Penha, born 11 May 1937, and died aged six. Her tag was found near the camp’s railway platform.

Deddie Zak was born on February 23, 1935. His charred metal tag was found in one of the crematoria. Deddie was deported to the camp on the so-called Kindertransport, named after the large number of children it carried to their death. About a third of the 3,017 Jews deported to Sobibor from the Vught Via Westerbork concentration camp were children aged 4–8, many of them without parents.

Deddie was murdered with his family when they reached Sobibor camp on 11 June 1943. He was only 8 years old.

Annie Kapper was born in January 1931 and died aged 12. Her aluminum identity tag was found near one of the mass graves.

The Kapper family was deported to Sobibor on 30 March 1943, in the fifth transport, which contained 1,255 Jews in 25 wagons. The train reached Sobibor on 2 April 1943 and all those on board were murdered in the camp’s gas chambers.

David Juda Van der Velde was born on 21 November 1932, and died aged 11. His half a broken aluminum identity tag was found to the west of the gas chambers.

David and his family were deported on transport number 5 from Westerbork to Sobibor on 30 March 1943 and reached Sobibor camp on 2 April 1943, where they were immediately taken to the gas chambers.

Sobibor was an extermination camp was located in the forest near the village of Sobibór in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland.

As an extermination camp rather than a concentration camp, Sobibor existed for the sole purpose of killing Jews. The vast majority of prisoners were gassed within a few hours of their arrival.

Those not gassed were forced to assist in the operation of the camp, and few survived more than a few months.

Some 170,000 to 250,000 Jews were murdered at Sobibor.

(TPS)

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