Excavated In Sobibor, The Pendent of Karoline Cohn from Frankfurt

For ten years, Yoram Haimi, an archaeologist from the Israel Antiquities Authority, excavated at the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland. It was an extraordinary archaeological excavation conducted before the construction of a new visitor center at the camp. The excavation unearthed many difficult sights, but on the day he found the chilling evidence we reveal to you today, he broke down.

Among the findings uncovered during the archaeological excavation at the extermination camp in Poland were the remains of a structure, that served as a hair-cutting barrack before entering the gas chambers, where various women’s jewelry were found including a medallion with a birth date on it whose owner was identified – the late Karoline Cohn from Frankfurt.

The excavation was led by Wojciech Mazurek from Poland, Yoram Haimi from the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Ivar Schute from the Netherlands, funded by the steering committee for establishing the Sobibor commemoration site, and accompanied by the Yad Vashem Historical Institute.

Inside the structure they found emotionally stirring finds such as hairpins and jewelry. These fell through the floorboards and remained embedded in the soil of the campgrounds until their uncovering. Among the findings – a glass-coated metal medallion depicting Moses holding the Ten Commandments and on the other side the “Shema” prayer, a Star of David pendant, a women’s watch, and a triangular pendant with the inscription “Mazal Tov” in Hebrew, with the date 3.7.1929 and the city “Frankfurt am Main” in German on one side, and the Hebrew letter “ה'” (which is an abbreviation of God’s name) and three Stars of David on the other side.

With the help of Dr. Joel Zissenwein from Yad Vashem’s Migrations Project, Haimi managed to trace the owner of the pendant who was sent to Minsk in the fall of 1941, using lists of the names of Jews who were deported from Frankfurt to Minsk. When the Minsk ghetto was liquidated in September 1943, about two thousand of its Jewish residents were sent to the Sobibor extermination camp.

In a complex and strenuous effort Yad Vashem archivists, Rachel Shapira and Anu Rezka, worked to identify the girl whose birth date was engraved on the back of the pendant. Karoline Cohn was 14 years old when she arrived at Sobibor where, on her way to the gas chamber, her pendant fell and remained in the campgrounds until its recent discovery.

Further research revealed that an almost identical pendant, the only other known one, belonged to another famous girl killed in the Holocaust – Anne Frank, also a native of Frankfurt.

In the excavations taking place at the camp since 2007, aimed initially at exposing the camp structures and gas chambers, the original railway platform was also uncovered, as well as a large number of personal items belonging to Holocaust victims.

Among the exceptional items previously found were metal discs that were placed on children’s necklaces, engraved with contact information in case they went missing.