Their Last Voice: Letter from crematorium no. 3 in Birkenau

In 1980 a farewell note written in Greek was found at the site of crematorium no. 3 in Birkenau (Auschwitz).  Yad Vashem received a copy of it from the Auschwitz Museum.  The note, which seems to be incomplete, was probably written by one of the members of the Jewish Sonderkommando who worked there.

To my dear ones,

Dimitrios Athanasios Stephanidis, Ilias Cohen, Georgios Gunaris and all my close friends, Smaru Eframidu of Athens and other friends whom I will always remember, and finally to my beloved fatherland, Greece, whose faithful citizen I have always been.

I left Athens on 2 April 1944 after going through torture for months in the Haidari concentration camp, where all the time I received packages from the good-hearted Sfaru, and all that she tried to do for me remains in my memory forever in these terrible days which I am now experiencing.