Relieken - Reliques. Collection Relics

The “Relics” collection comprises 3,065 envelopes. Each contains personal documents confiscated by the Aufnahme (camp administration) at the SS-Sammellager Mecheln (Dossin barracks) upon arrival of a detainee at the barracks. The documents range from photographs to letters, ID cards, university diplomas, marriage certificates, etc. Each envelope refers to a single detainee or a family. Most of these detainees were eventually deported via Transport XX to XXVI. No “Relics” exist for deportees from Transports I to XIX. However, several dozen of the envelopes contain documents of detainees who passed away at the Dossin barracks or who died at the Breendonk camp for political prisoners, who were released from the Dossin barracks or who were deported to smaller camps such as Buchenwald and Ravensbrück. A name index is available at the Kazerne Dossin documentation centre.