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April 5, 2002
Plundered possessions found in Italy
Yad Vashem displays some 50 items of Jewish property that was
stolen by the Nazis.
SHACHAR LEVEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Close to a year ago, the chief rabbi of Trieste, Italy, Rabbi Abraham
Umberto Piperno, approached Yad Vashem with a remarkable story of
recently discovered Jewish possessions that were plundered during
the Holocaust period. According to Piperno's account, personal effects
and valuables stolen from Jews prior to their transportation from
the Risiera di San Sabba concentration camp (also known as "La
Risiera") to Auschwitz were recently discovered in the cellar
of the Italian treasury in Rome.
In 1944, towards the end of the Second World War, the Nazis attempted
to transfer seven sacks of plundered goods - five that contained
valuables, one that contained Torah scrolls and one that contained
sets of false teeth - from Italy to Berlin by train. En route to
Berlin, the train was intercepted by American troops and the sacks
were transferred to Trieste, a northern coastal city in close proximity
to La Risiera. There, the valuables were exhibited for identification
purposes, but as the identification process bore few results, the
valuables were deposited in a Trieste bank and later sent to the
Italian treasury. The unidentified personal effects were placed
in storage in the treasury's cellar, where they remained for 56
years.
In the late 1990s, secretary of the Trieste Jewish community, Elihu
Georgio, became aware of the sacks' existence after discovering
a letter that had been written in 1945 by the American general whose
forces captured the train. In the letter, the general questioned
what had happened to the personal effects that had been returned
to the treasury.
Following Georgio's discovery of the letter, the Trieste Jewish
community pressured the Italian government to further investigate
the matter. This resulted in the discovery of the stolen goods and
the Italian government's July 18, 1997, ratification of a law calling
for the restitution of the sacks to the Union of Jewish Communities
in Italy. The sacks were returned to the Union of Jewish Communities
which, in turn, transferred them to the Trieste Jewish community.
Of the many items returned, president of the Jewish community Nathan
Weisenfeld approved 50 to be selected by Yad Vashem for display
in its new Museum Complex, currently under construction. The Trieste
community intends to display a second part of the collection of
valuables and personal effects at a museum in Trieste and a third
part at a museum located in the La Risiera camp itself. Any remaining
items will be sold to donors.
In the summer of 2000, museums division director Yehudit Inbar and
director of artifacts retrieval Haviva Peled-Carmeli went to Trieste
to select the 50 items to be donated to Yad Vashem.
"We deliberately chose objects that reflect the philosophy
of Yad Vashem," explained Peled-Carmeli. "We wanted objects
that contained pictures, addresses, dates of birth - anything that
could shed light on the person behind the possession."
Inbar and Peled-Carmeli were clearly moved by the contents of the
sacks, and equally shocked to see the meticulous way in which the
stolen goods had been arranged.
According to Peled-Carmeli, the sacks were extremely large and contained
perfectly ordered envelopes filled with personal possessions that
had been stripped from the victims as they left La Risiera and boarded
the Auschwitz-bound trains. Among the personal effects were lockets
with family photos, a girl's charm bracelet (to which, it appears,
charms were added for each additional birthday), pocket-watches,
a toddler's ring and cutlery. The envelopes were marked with the
Nazi insignia and on the front of each envelope the contents' catalogue
numbers, monetary values and, in some cases, weights were indicated.
"The objects were not the only matter of value discovered,"
noted Inbar. "The way in which the valuables were found testifies
to the cruel, systematic and calculated manner in which the Germans
plundered the goods of their victims. They did not overlook a single
object; alongside diamond jewelry, for example, were items of little
monetary worth, such as a simple pair of glasses' frames that were
ticketed with a value of two German Marks."
Before leaving Trieste, Inbar and Peled-Carmeli requested that Yad
Vashem receive the envelopes in which the items were enclosed and
one of the sacks marked with the Nazi emblem, along with the 50
personal effects. As testimony to the Nazi systematic design, they
requested that the tags with the various monetary values remain
affixed to each individual item.
On June 25, 2001, the personal effects from Trieste were handed
over to Yad Vashem at a moving ceremony held in the presence of
Piperno, Union of Jewish Communities in Italy president Amos Luchato
and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, among others. The items
provide additional evidence of the barbarism displayed by the Nazis
in their systematic efforts to wipe out European Jewry.
Shachar Leven is with the Israel Press Service. The article
is reproduced with permission from Yad Vashem magazine.
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