A disturbing new discovery has been made beneath the floors of one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious concentration camps.
During recent renovations at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, more than 30 handmade chess pieces were discovered inside a former prison wing.
The 35 fragments were hidden beneath the floorboards of the first floor of Block 8 at the Auschwitz I camp, presumably to hide them from Nazi guards.
The shocking discovery offers a harrowing insight into the daily life of prisoners at Auschwitz, known as Europe’s most horrific concentration camp during the Holocaust.
More than 1.1 million people, including Jews, Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and people with disabilities, were murdered in the camps during World War II as part of Hitler’s horrific “Final Solution”.
Elzbieta Kaiser, head of collections at the Auschwitz museum, said the hand-painted chess set was in a remarkably “good state of preservation” despite being around 80 years old.
“Some of the drawings may be a bit blurry, but the images of the rook, pawn, bishop and knight are still easily identifiable,” Kaiser said.
“However, the set is incomplete and some boxes no longer bear any traces of the painting.
“Our assessment has shown that the items are in a good state of preservation and conservation treatment will take place in the coming days.”
Kaiser also mentioned the importance of prisoners being able to hide the game quickly.
“The chess pieces that were discovered are unique in that they were made from prefabricated cardboard in a relatively primitive way,” she added.
“I would guess the emphasis was on functionality, portability and quick concealment, not aesthetics.”
Auschwitz was first established in April 1940 as a site to hold Polish prisoners of war during Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland.
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Prisoners were beaten, tortured and executed for petty reasons.
It is not unreasonable to assume that if the chess pieces had been discovered, the worst possible punishment could have been meted out.
The first gassings took place around August 1941 in Block 11 of Auschwitz I, against Soviet and Polish prisoners.
Construction of Auschwitz II began the following month, with people arriving by train from all over German-occupied Europe between 1942 and late 1944.
Many went straight to the gas chambers.
Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, 1.1 million were murdered.
Victims who were not gassed died from starvation, exhaustion, disease, individual executions, beatings, and other horrors of the camps.
Many people died from cruel medical experiments.
Auschwitz Museum Magdalena Urbaniak He said prisoners tend to spend their free time playing games to escape the harsh reality of the camps.
“Chess and cards were popular games that people could make themselves using illegally obtained cardboard and pieces of wood,” she explained.
“The prisoners of the camps viewed mental activities as a way to relax from the harsh reality of the camps. The items required for the games were, in most cases, illegally made by the prisoners.”
“Materials used included wood, paper, and rarely breadcrumbs, as well as other available materials.”
“Some of the gaming paraphernalia was illegally transferred to camp prisoners from luggage confiscated from Jewish victims.”
One of the survivors, Jan Dziopek, worked as a warehouseman in the carpentry workshop at Auschwitz and often made chess pieces.
“I received many orders from SS men, but I was reluctant to carry them out,” he said.
“But I still had to follow their orders, under the pretext of working for them, so I could respond to the demands of my colleagues, whose salary I paid in bread and camp soup rations.”
“My colleagues in the kitchen and warehouse bought these items from me because they had no problem getting food.”
“I won’t go into detail as to how many lashes I received in this case.”
“I couldn’t tinker in the shed for fear of being found, so I built a secret hideout in the attic and moved all the tools I needed out of the shed.”
“I was messing around there for hours.”
The unearthed chess pieces will be displayed as part of an upcoming exhibition focusing on the daily lives of concentration camp prisoners.
