10 August 2006
A Paris court is investigating whether the belongings of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz held by the museum there should be returned to the family of a victim. In a lawsuit brought against the Auschwitz Camp Museum over the ownership of a suitcase, French citizen Michel Levi-Leleu claims the suitcase to be his father's personal belongings, while the museum insists it be part of the former death camp. It is the first time in Auschwitz's history that a former prisoner's relatives have attempted to take back belongings from the museum through a lawsuit. The court action was launched after Levi-Leleu recognized the suitcase when he visited an exhibition at Paris Museum last September. Paris Museum had borrowed the suitcase from the Auschwitz Camp Museum. According to AFP, Teresa Swiebocka, the deputy chief of the Auschwitz Museum, refuses to give up, saying the signature on the suitcase, the evidence provided by Levi-Leleu, was far from enough. One report said the Jewish Frenchman Pierre Levi changed his surname during World War II to Leleu to protect his family, a move that successfully saved his wife and children but not himself. Auschwitz was the largest death camp built by the Nazis World War II. The museum, based at the site of the camp, was set up in 1947 to commemorate millions of victims, mostly Jews, killed there. Many institutions in different countries have asked to borrow items from the Auschwitz Museum and it has always been cautious in handling the requests.
