On Tuesday, September 10, 2024, an emotional ceremony was held in Warsaw. The Arolsen Archives, an international documentation, information and research center on Nazi persecution, forced labor and the Nazi Holocaust in Germany and the occupied regions, containing approximately 30 million documents, returned a group of jewels confiscated by the Nazis from Stanislawa Wasilewska during World War II to her relatives, and to the heirs of 12 other Polish prisoners.
Wasilewska gave two amber crucifixes, part of a gold bracelet and an engraved watch to her grandson and great-granddaughter.
Wasilewska was arrested on 31 August 1944 during the Warsaw Uprising and sent to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp and then to the Neuengamme forced labour camp. It was there that her belongings were confiscated.
Malgorzata Koryś, her great-granddaughter, said with emotion that “it is a story that we did not fully know and now it has come to light.”
Floriane Azoulay, director of the Arolsen archive, said: “Each object is the last thing a person had before becoming a prisoner, before becoming a number.”
Great event. A lot of work has been done. Respect.