Recent excavations at the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland unveiled three seemingly unconnected pendants depicting biblical figure Moses, as well as the Hebrew prayer “Shema Yisrael,” (Hear O Israel).
Two of the pendants were discovered in two sperate plazas where Jewish inmates were forced to undress before entering the camp's gas chambers, while the third one was discovered near one of the mass grave s at the camp.
4 View gallery
One of the pendants found at the Sobibor death camp
(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
Aside from the depiction of Moses and the Hebrew prayer, the three pendants appear to be quite different from one another, and were transcribed by hand.
Over the past year, researchers identified their origin in Eastern Europe: from Lviv in Ukraine, and from Poland and Czechoslovakia.
4 View gallery
'Shema Yisrael' prayer on one of the pendants discovered at the Sobibor death camp
(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
4 View gallery
Image depicting Moses on Pendant found at Sobibor
(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
"little is known about the stories behind the pendants, which are heartbreaking," said Yoram Haimi from the Israel Antiquities Authority, who is co-managing the excavation in Sobibor, where some 170,000 to 250,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime.
"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 Moses and the tablets with the ten commandments, on the opposite side."
"But were they distributed in synagogues by local Jewish communities or possibly produced for individuals? Research of the pendants is ongoing and we invite the public to provide us with details on them," Haimi added.
Eli Eskozido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, also referenced the discovery and the seemingly invisible connection between the three pendants.
"The personal and human aspect of the discovery of these pendants is chilling. They represent a thread running between generations of Jews – actually a robust thread, thousands of years old, of prayer and faith," said Eskozido.