Charm From Nazi Death Camp Believed to be Linked to Anne Frank

Experts are now on the lookout for the families of the two girls to uncover more information; pendant is one of only two pendants in the world.

Archaeologists have found a necklace they guess may belong to a Jewish-German girl named Karoline Cohn, who was murdered during the Holocaust. This pendant is similar to the one that belonged to Anne Frank, which indicates that Karoline may have been connected to the diarist.

Charm From Nazi Death Camp Believed to be Linked to Anne Frank[/tweetthis]

Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, is now looking for connections between the two girls and to uncover details of existing relatives if any. The experts are convinced the pendant, which was discovered at the site of the Sobibór camp, may have fallen there after the girl had undressed before getting executed in the gas chamber.

Just like Frank, Cohn too was born in Frankfurt. From the pendant, it is guessed the girl may have been born in 1929. As per the experts, there are only two pendants of the kind, the other one belonging to Anne Frank herself. This led to the conjecture that two girls may have been related.

The pendant contains the Jewish expression for “Congratulations’’– Mazel Tov – in Hebrew on one side and the letter “Hay,” representing one if the mystical names of God on the other side together with three David’s Stars. This triangular pendant was among many other pieces of jewelry including a David’s Star necklace and a woman’s watch. Yad Vashem is now working with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to conduct further excavations at the Sobibor site to uncover more details about the former Nazi death camp.

Archaeologists Unearth Pendant That May Be Linked To Anne Frank https://t.co/yNZCLYojYm via @WBUR

— Michael A. Gottlieb (@116deerfield) January 17, 2017

Cohn may have been brought to Sobibor along with 2,000 other Jewish victims from the Minsk ghetto after the latter was liquidated in 1941. Unlike many other camps, Sobibor’s sole function was to serve as an extermination site for Jews. Nearly 250,000 Jews are believed to have lost their lives at Sobibor, which was then part of Nazi-controlled Poland. Archaeologists have found a train platform and gas chambers in the camp. The camp was dismantled in 1943 following an uprising.

The research was headed by Dr. Joel Zisenwine, who first found Karoline Cohn’s name on the list of Jews who were transported from Frankfurt to Minsk on the 11th of November, 1941. Experts are now trying to make contact with the families of the two girls in an attempt to learn more about whether Cohn and Anne Frank were related or not.

Yad Vashem and the IAA are now inviting anyone who has any information that can be of help to write to yoramhai@israntique.org.il.

Resources

• CNN
• Haaretz
• BBC
• Holocaust Research Progject