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Builders find Auschwitz message | Builders find Auschwitz message |
(10 minutes later) | |
Builders working near the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp have found a message in a bottle written by prisoners, museum officials say. | Builders working near the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp have found a message in a bottle written by prisoners, museum officials say. |
The message, written in pencil and dated 9 September 1944, bears names, camp numbers and home towns of seven young inmates from Poland and France. | The message, written in pencil and dated 9 September 1944, bears names, camp numbers and home towns of seven young inmates from Poland and France. |
At least two survived the Nazi camp, an Auschwitz museum official said. | At least two survived the Nazi camp, an Auschwitz museum official said. |
The bottle was buried in a concrete wall in a school that prisoners had been compelled to reinforce. | The bottle was buried in a concrete wall in a school that prisoners had been compelled to reinforce. |
The school's buildings, a few hundred metres from the camp, were used as warehouses by the Nazis, who wanted them protected against air raids. | The school's buildings, a few hundred metres from the camp, were used as warehouses by the Nazis, who wanted them protected against air raids. |
Museum experts have checked the authenticity of the note, the Associated Press news agency reported. | Museum experts have checked the authenticity of the note, the Associated Press news agency reported. |
Six of the prisoners were from Poland and one wwas from France, AP said. | |
"All of them are between the ages of 18 and 20," the final sentence of the note reads. | "All of them are between the ages of 18 and 20," the final sentence of the note reads. |
An Auschwitz museum spokesman said the authors of the note "were young people who were trying to leave some trace of their existence behind them". | An Auschwitz museum spokesman said the authors of the note "were young people who were trying to leave some trace of their existence behind them". |
The Nazis murdered some 1.1 million people - mainly European Jews, but also non-Jewish Poles, Roma (Gypsies) and others - at the former concentration camp at Auschwitz. | The Nazis murdered some 1.1 million people - mainly European Jews, but also non-Jewish Poles, Roma (Gypsies) and others - at the former concentration camp at Auschwitz. |