Auschwitz shoe

[DougB]

Kyle, please think before posting. Your talking about a place where 1.3 million (1,300,000) were murdered and countless others lived in abject misery.

Interesting, while not nearly as grim when visiting some WW1 battlefields of Western Europe we came across an old grenade and artillery shell. Both live. These relics find their way to the surface, I don't find it all that unusual. Interesting post.

[drmessimer]

Asking how the shoe remained in the open and undisturbed for over 60 years is a valid question; it's called critical thinking. It simply doesn't seem rationally possible for that to happen, and the scenario presented, that it was set there to entrap a petty thief isn't really far-fetched. Off-hand, I can't think of a good explanation for the shoe being there, but I rather doubt that it belonged to an inmate. Still it was an evocative experience for Tiger88, particularly given the location. Dwight

[geelong]

just the fact a human once wore that shoe. and the owner of this item ended up at a place like that and suffered at the hand of other humans just because of there race or believes. and now this item lays on its own, and that we will never no who and what happend to owner is sad. this person once loved, cryed,laughed or was a mum dad daughter or son. now that all is left is that shoe. it dosent matter how it found its way to that spot its just there.

[Thanatos]

I can see how it remained there untouched for over 60 years.
Would you or could you take an item from such a place,the suffering and misery that is associated around a relic as such would make it so undesirable to me words alone could not explain how I feel.Every time I looked at it I would shed tears for it's previous owner.
It is an icon of misery and a symbol of human cruelty to me.So so very sad
Cheers
Dave

[Good Pwny]

Very interesting photo and story! Thank you for sharing!

[youthcollector1]

I can see how it remained there untouched for over 60 years.
Would you or could you take an item from such a place,the suffering and misery that is associated around a relic as such would make it so undesirable to me words alone could not explain how I feel.Every time I looked at it I would shed tears for it's previous owner.
It is an icon of misery and a symbol of human cruelty to me.So so very sad
Cheers
Dave

I can't agree with you anymore. However, sadly thief has already accrued on this property. There are some horrible people out there without any remorse or respect of others. The camp is now a museum. Between volunteers and employees you would imagine someone would have reported a item with such historical significance and recovered it by now. I'm sure due to all the visitors, the property has maintenance as well. Every inch of the camp must be maintained. This is my reasoning. So to sum it up, if fakers will fake the items holocaust victims were forced to wear, why wouldn't they steal an authentic item. As well as if this is now a museum, would ever inch be looked over? Just asking myself why it still out in the open, where anyone can touch it, steal it, or at the least, be destroyed by sun, rain, and snow. I apologize for ever saying anything.

[Thanatos]

I fully understand your point and it's quite valid so no apology required IMO bro.
I was only generalising my position on such a relic,which I would have no desire to own.....ever, let alone steal.
Cheers
Dave

[Sir Payne]

I have never been to Auschwitz, but a long time ago I visited the Holocaust museum in Washington DC. It was a very humbling experience. The atmosphere there was extremely distressing to me. Just being around the exhibits made my skin crawl. I don't know if it was fear or anger, but the feeling was unsettling.

[StefanM]

Carl's evocative Auschwitz shoe photo reminded me of the abandoned gulag prisoner shoe photos and Tomasz Kizny's series of haunting photographs in his 2004 book Gulag: Life and Death Inside the Soviet Concentration Camps

[Gunny Hartmann]

I think there's a good chance that the shoe might have been buried or partly buried and uncovered by wind and rain.