On Saturday, a special handover took place at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial: the ring belonging to former Neuengamme concentration camp prisoner Czesław Drozdzyniak was returned to his nephew Michel Drozdzyniak. He was accompanied by his sister and his wife.

The family had traveled from Belgium especially for the occasion. The return took place as part of the Arolsen Archives' #StolenMemory initiative, which aims to return personal belongings of Nazi victims to their relatives. Many international volunteers are helping with this effort. One of them was able to locate the family of Czesław Drozdzyniak.

Czesław's story is very well documented within the family. The Drozdzyniak family arrived with numerous photos and documents, such as work permits, a ration voucher from the Neuengamme concentration camp, and proof of membership in resistance groups. At the heart of the documents is a detailed report on his arrest and liberation, which Czesław wrote by hand in May 1945 shortly after his arrival home. This eyewitness account is an important source of information about the fate of Czesław Drozdzyniak, both for the family and for the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial and the Arolsen Archives.

The story of Czesław Drozdzyniak

Czesław Drozdzyniak was born on July 20, 1922, in Chorzemin, Poland. The family emigrated to Waterschei in the province of Limburg in Belgium because his father found work in the local coal mine. Czesław Drozdzyniak studied there, changed his first name to César, and eventually became active in the resistance against the German occupiers. On August 2, 1944, he was arrested and interned in Hasselt prison. On September 2, 1944, he was deported from the Breendonk police detention camp to the Neuengamme concentration camp. He was registered as a Belgian prisoner with the number 44500 in the Neuengamme concentration camp. Towards the end of the war, César/Czesław was sent on a clearance march to the Wöbbelin satellite camp near Ludwigslust. There, he was liberated on May 2, 1945, by units of the British and US armies. On May 18, 1945, he returned to his hometown of Waterschei, seriously ill. He then stayed at the Lembeek repatriation center. Only a few months later, on October 14, 1945, he died in his hometown.

Last year, Yarden Lenga, one of the volunteers working for #StolenMemory, managed to locate C. Drozdzyniak's nephew in Belgium. Michel Drozdzyniak wished to receive his uncle's ring at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial. On September 27, 2025, the family visited the memorial for the first time as part of the return of the ring.

#StolenMemory

Wristwatches and wedding rings, letters and photos: the Nazis took all personal belongings from the people in the concentration camps. The Arolsen Archives still hold around 2,000 items – known as effects – waiting to be returned to their descendants. Many of these remaining items were taken from former prisoners of the Neuengamme concentration camp and stored by the SS in the effects room at the camp, including Czesław Drozdzyniak's ring.

After the #StolenMemory traveling exhibition was shown at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial in June of this year, this special handover to the family took place at the memorial. Other effects of former prisoners are on display in the main exhibition and await possible return.