Prisoner numbers 96541 and 96542 - father and son’
96541 and 96542 are the prisoner numbers of Ryszard Zabłotniak (born 1928) and his father Józef Zabłotniak (born 1898). Both were arrested in 1944 after the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising and deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
A gift for the anniversary of the liberation
This souvenir was presented to the Sachsenhausen Memorial on the 55th anniversary of the liberation in April 2000 by Arschaluis Zatinjan, a former Soviet prisoner of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, as a gift. The ensemble, made of wood and soft metal cans with great skill and precision, was made by Zatinjan himself.
Prayer book made from cardboard and company forms
This small, 10.6 x 7.6 cm booklet is a handmade prayer book. Zofia Sukow, married Czaplicka, made it during her imprisonment in the satellite camp of Dreilinden Maschinenbau GmbH, a subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH in Kleinmachnow.
Bark rubs from the Below Forest
During excavations in the Below Forest in the 1990s, numerous bark rubs like this one were found. What is the story behind them?
“... so I have to take this risk now” (Hein Schmidt, 31 Aug. 1944)
Only a few inmates exposed themselves to the danger of secretly smuggling messages out of the concentration camp. This was only possible with the support of outsiders.
Hein Schmidt, a communist prisoner from the Ruhr area, secretly made this wooden box with a double bottom in the Lichtenrade satellite camp.
Responsible: Ernst Schneller, Berlin
The objects presented here, agitation material of the Communist Party of Germany from the early 1930s, obviously date from before the time of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. They are linked via a detail to an important inmate of the concentration camp. Among the flyers and posters is the note: Responsible: Ernst Schneller, Berlin
A real fake
This bill is not real. Or rather, not a real pound note. Rather, this banknote is an almost perfect counterfeit, created in a specially equipped printing plant behind the walls of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
A special christmas present
This ring weighs just 5 grams, but one can hardly imagine how much it must have weighed in the pocket of the prisoner who secretly made it. In the winter of 1944, this special gift was created in the machines that normally shaped armour parts and from material intended for lethal ammunition.
We do not know the name of the manufacturer. The recipient - Bernard Dutasta - only remembered his nationality: the man who gave him this ring on Christmas Day in 1944 is said to have been of Polish descent.
Secret Message out of the Soviet Special Camp No. 7 in Weesow
Rudolf Witzleben wrote this secret message to his family in Berlin-Charlottenburg on 6 August 1945. Rudolf Witzleben, born 27.11.1898 in Hanover, worked as an engineer at AEG in Treptow. According to his daughter Inka, he was arrested by the Soviet secret service NKWD in Berlin-Charlottenburg on 7 June 1945 and transferred to the Soviet Special Camp No. 7 in Weesow. The accusation was that he had been an "agitator".
Walk on the Kurfürstendamm
At the end of June 1945, the Dutchman Arnold Blitz (right) and his friend Tony Mast are photographed in their prisoner clothing on Kurfürstendamm during an excursion to Berlin. Blitz had been liberated in mid-April 1945 in the Heinkel subcamp of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Arnold Blitz had gone into hiding in September 1942, when the security police also carried out systematic raids on Jews in Rotterdam.
Prisoner's jacket - left behind in the cowshed
The memorial recently received this prisoner's jacket as a gift from Eckhard Zowe from Beetz, a district of Kremmen. The jacket was left behind by a prisoner at the end of April 1945 on the farm of the Zowe family in Beetz.
Easter greeting from the concentration camp - 1944
Louis Kiebooms (1903-1992) sent this Easter greeting to his wife and four children in April 1944. In the background you can see the city silhouette of Antwerp. Kiebooms' letters from the camp were often decorated with drawings. In one of the letters he writes that these were made by a draughtsman. It is not known whether this was a friendly service or whether Kiebooms exchanged the drawing for food or even cigarettes.
Cardboard Skat game in Miniature
The miniature card game is a cardboard skat deck made in the concentration camp. It consists of eight cards each with the symbols cross, spade, heart and diamonds drawn in pencil. Its owner was the former prisoner Gustav Buttgereit.
Cigarette box with carved representation of a prisoner behind bars
This technically elaborate and artistically decorated case with the carved depiction of a man behind bars, identified as a concentration camp inmate by his cap and prisoner number, is the work of an unknown inmate.
