Message in a Bottle: Auschwitz

The handwritten letter... (this image from bbc news and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum)

Some builders stumbled across a message in a bottle while removing a layer of concrete from a wall in Auschwitz. The letter, dated September 9, 1944, was checked for its authenticity and has been confirmed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Written in pencil, stuffed into a bottle, and buried in a concrete wall, the message is simply the names of 7 young Europeans trapped in Auschwitz. The wall was apparently created to reinforce school walls, which were actually used as Nazi warehouses. The Nazi's were afraid of air raid damage and had the camp prisoners reinforce the walls. The 7 men, Bronislaw Jankowiak, Stanislaw Dubla, Jan Jasik, Waclaw Sobczak, Karol Czekalski, Waldemar Bialobrzeski and Albert Veissid, were simply trying to leave proof of their existance. A sad but all to common truth of the period. Of the 7, Albert Veissid is the only survivor whos where abouts are known today. Karol Czekalski and Wachaw Sobczak are know to have difinitively survived the camp, but there where abouts are unknown. The other four, are lost to history, perhaps they died in Auschwitz, or were transferred and died else where, no one knows...
That's the Scoop


check out the bbc news article for a few more details.