Shema Yisrael Pendants Discovered in Excavations in the Sobibor Camp in Poland

Over the past decade, archaeological excavations in the Sobibor extermination camp have uncovered three pendants bearing depictions of Luchos opposite the prayer Shema Yisrael. The excavations were directed by Wojciech Mazurek from Poland, Yoram Haimi from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ivar Schute from Holland, who were assisted by local residents.

The metal pendants are different from one another and they were inscribed by hand. Over the past year, researchers have identified their origin in Eastern Europe: from Lviv in Ukraine, and from Poland and Czechoslovakia.

According to archaeologist Yoram Haimi of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “Little is known about the stories behind the pendants, which are heartbreaking. It has been possible to identify a kind of tradition or fashion among the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe with pendants that were inscribed with Shema Yisrael on one side and a depiction of Moshe and the Luchos on the opposite side. But were they distributed in synagogues by local Jewish communities or possibly produced for individual orders? Research of the pendants is on-going and we invite the public to provide us with details concerning them.”

One of the three pendants was discovered in the archaeological excavations in the remains of the building where victims were undressed before being led to the gas chambers: over the floor of the building were scattered dozens of women’s hairpins and jewelry and also a pendant. Another pendant, on which Latin numbers were inscribed on the Luchos, was uncovered in the area where victims were undressed in Camp II. A third pendant, on which only the side with the inscribed prayer survived, was discovered next to a mass grave.