Auschwitz Museum discovers six-year-old’s shoes with hidden inscription
Footwear belonging to ex-prisoner Amos Steinberg found by staff, which included six-year-old boy’s name, the mark of the transport and registration number on the list
Auschwitz Museum has unveiled an incredible discovery found while staff were cleaning out an exhibit – inscriptions and documents hidden in inmate’s shoes.
In one particularly poignant example there is a handwritten inscription, which is still legible, showing that the footwear belonged to Amos Steinberg, who was born in Prague on 26 June 1938.
Shortly after his fourth birthday, Amos was taken to Theresienstadt, just outside Prague, and then in October 1944, aged six, he became one of the 46,000 Jews deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz, together with his parents Ludvik and Ida.
Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up
As well as the young boy’s full name, the inscription shows the mark of the transport and the registration number on the transport list.
“It is likely that both his parents were murdered in the gas chamber after selection,” said Hanna Kubik from the Museum Collections.
“We may presume that Ida was most likely the one who ensured that her child’s shoe was signed. The father was deported in another transport. We know that he was transferred from Auschwitz to Dachau on 10 October 1944. He was liberated in the Kaufering sub-camp.”
A touching #discovery was made during conservation of shoes of child victims of the German Nazi #Auschwitz camp: a handwritten inscription with the name of Amos Steinberg deported from #Theresienstadt Ghetto with his mother & documents in Hungarian: https://t.co/lByKFNXfVc pic.twitter.com/EK3zoYtTYj
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) July 21, 2020
Of the 46,000 Jews from Theresienstadt, 18,000 were placed in a family camp in a section of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and it is believed that Amos and his family were among them.
Kubik said it was not the first time the museum had come across documents in shoes, but these have been “mainly newspapers” inserted for extra insulation.
However, he said: “This find is precious and interesting because the documents have been preserved in good condition and they contain dates, names of the persons concerned and handwritten captions. They date back to 1941 and 1942.

“The documents belonged to people probably living in Munkacs and Budapest. ‘Some of them are official documents, a fragment of a brochure and a piece of paper with a name. The names Ackermann, Brávermann and Beinhorn appear in the find.
“They were probably deported to Auschwitz in the spring or summer of 1944 during the extermination of Hungarian Jews. I hope that more in-depth research will allow us to determine the details of the individuals.”
The discovered documents will now be preserved and sent to the central collection along with the shoe.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
-
By David Gross
-
By Brigit Grant
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)
-
By Laurent Vaughan - Senior Associate (Bishop & Sewell Solicitors)