Verzeichnisse
Description of the document
The kept Lists of personal effects were filled in the office of the warehouse of personal effects (Effektenkammer) in block no 26. This was connected with a procedure of taking personal items away from an every newly arrived prisoner. A List of personal items was prepared on a form, where apart from various elements of clothing, different personal items were recorded as well. These files were filled in by, among others: Adam Stapf (No 3704) and Emil Kowal (No 49730).
After giving all civil items away, clothes were disinfected and packed into paper bags, with an attached piece of paper with a camp number of a given prisoner. The bags were stored on the floor of the block No 26 and in the block No 27, hanging on wooden structures. The remaining items were put into a paper envelope, with a last name and number of the prisoner. Valuable items were recorded in a special book, so called "Wertsachenbuch", where the prisoner confirmed depositing them with their own signature.
The deposit was returned to the prisoner, which was released from the camp or moved to a prison. In case of a prisoner's death, during the first months of KL Auschwitz operation, their items were sent to their families via postal services. Since 1941, the deceased person's deposit (Nachlass) was returned only to families of prisoners, who came from the Reich or territories incorporated by the Reich. Deposits of the remaining prisoners were confiscated.
The List of personal effects was prepared for each prisoner on an earlier developed form. The writer put basic information about the prisoner into proper fields, i.e. first and last name ("Name"), camp number ("Nr."), born on ("Geboren"). Apart from that, he also made annotations on the list, marking proper fields next to the items, which belonged to a particular prisoner, e.g. various parts of clothing (such as: a hat ("Hut"), a cap ("Mütze"), a coat ("Mantel"), trousers ("Hose"), a shirt ("Hemd"), shoes ("Shuhe") etc.), or other personal items (such as: a briefcase ("Koffer"), a comb ("Kamm"), glasses ("brille"), soap ("Seife"), a towel ("Handtuch"), photographs ("Fotos") etc.). The writer recorded a date of receiving the items into the deposit under the list, and placed his hand signature with a camp number.
Time of preparation
The survived Lists of personal effects pertain to 1557 male prisoners, deported to KL Auschwitz from 8.10.1940 to 30.04.1944. In comparison to the number of male and female prisoners registered within this period in the camp, the amount of retained documents is rather insignificant.
A database: „Verzeichnisse”
There was a database - "Verzeichnisse" - developed in 2002 in Digital Repository, encompassing 1557 personal records, on the basis of a set of Lists of personal effects belonging to KL Auschwitz prisoners. Having standardized the records, the base was incorporated into the Central Register of Prisoners, kept by the Digital Repository of National Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau.
