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Workmen Discover Hidden Auschwitz Note

Young inmates left message buried in a concrete wall

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 28, 2009 1:35 AM CDT

(Newser) – Polish workmen demolishing a wall near the Auschwitz concentration camp found a note hidden in a bottle from inmates, AP reports. The note, written on a scrap from a cement bag and dated September 1944, bears the names, numbers, and hometowns of seven prisoners, who were between the ages of 18 and 20. Authorities think the note was left by a work crew who believed they were doomed to die.

"They were young people who were trying to leave some trace of their existence behind them," said a spokesman for the Auschwitz museum, which authenticated the note. Just  two of the seven prisoners are believed to have survived the camp. At least 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz.

A visitor walks along barracks in the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland.
A visitor walks along barracks in the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland.   (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)
Indian President Pratibha Patil, rght, walks at the grounds of former Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz  in Oswiecim, southern Poland, Sunday, April 26, 2009, to commemorate Holocaust victims.
Indian President Pratibha Patil, rght, walks at the grounds of former Nazi Death Camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, southern Poland, Sunday, April 26, 2009, to commemorate Holocaust victims.   (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Railway tracks lead to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland.
Railway tracks lead to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland.   (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 2 comments
Nwambe
Apr 28, 2009 11:33 AM CDT
Was that really necessary? This is a story with value and importance. Don't inject ridiculous politics into it.
riffran
Apr 28, 2009 9:35 AM CDT
but wait....that never occured just ask Mockmood imajustanutjob

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