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The Last Witnesses

Artifacts from the Museum's Collection

From the red shoes a toddler wore in a ghetto in Poland before she was deported and killed to a wooden boat used to smuggle Danish Jews to safety, the Museum’s collection of Holocaust evidence reflects a wide range of individual experiences and perspectives on the history.

Shoes worn by Lea Kufert, a young victim of the Holocaust. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, gift of Gershon Kufert

Published in April 2017, The Last Witnesses tells the powerful stories behind several dozen artifacts from the Museum’s collection. These items show what happened in one of the darkest chapters of human history and help us recognize that the Holocaust took place in a world not unlike our own and could occur again if we do not heed the lessons of the past.

Copies of the 64-page book are available at the Museum Shop or on Amazon.

View the second volume of Artifacts from the Museum’s Collection: Americans and the Holocaust.