WARSAW, POLAND (AP) — Some 400 items believed to have been hidden in the ground by their Jewish owners during World War II were found in a garden in Lodz, central Poland, according to media reports. Found during home renovation work.
According to TVN24, historians say the objects include the Hanukkah menorah and items used in everyday life.
Most of them are silver-plated tableware, menorahs and glass containers for cosmetics, according to the Historic Buildings Preservation Agency. An expert from the office said on Facebook last week that the object would be turned over to the city’s archaeological museum.
The stash was discovered in December and two Chanukiahs were lit during the Hanukkah festival hosted by the city’s Jewish community on December 22nd.
The address of 23 Polnocna Street, where the object was found, is the Ritzmann, which was founded in Lodz by the occupied Nazi Germans in February 1940 and held approximately 200,000 Jews from all over Europe until August 1944. It was just outside the Stadt Ghetto. Most of the inmates died there or in concentration camps.