--- title: Auschwitz: Jewelry Hidden in Mug Discovered After 70 Years description: Museum staff at Auschwitz discovered a gold ring and necklace hidden at the bottom of a mug canonical: https://time.com/4341635/auschwitz-jewelry-nazis/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-19T14:49:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:40:56.439Z article:section: History og:title: Jewelry Hidden in Mug at Auschwitz Discovered After 70 Years og:description: Museum workers won't be able to identify the owner og:url: https://time.com/4341635/auschwitz-jewelry-nazis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte63b5a5b03340d1d/698893e88e060132f5465f3e/auschwitz-jewelry-mug.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Auschwitz jewelry mug og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jewelry Hidden in Mug at Auschwitz Discovered After 70 Years twitter:description: Museum workers won't be able to identify the owner twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte63b5a5b03340d1d/698893e88e060132f5465f3e/auschwitz-jewelry-mug.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jewelry Hidden in Mug at Auschwitz Discovered After 70 Years  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 19, 2016 2:49 PM UTC  Piotr Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, presents a metal mug with a double bottom in which a gold ring and necklace were found by employees of the museum in Oswiecim, Poland, May 19, 2016. Piotr Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, presents a metal mug with a double bottom in which a gold ring and necklace were found by employees of the museum in Oswiecim, Poland, May 19, 2016.Bartosz Siedlik—AFP/Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 19, 2016 2:49 PM UTC Museum staff at Auschwitz [discovered](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/19/auschwitz-mug-reveals-jewellery-hidden-second-world-war-museum-nazis) a gold ring and necklace hidden at the bottom of a mug at the former Nazi concentration camp, according to a report. The discovery, reported by [AFP](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/19/auschwitz-mug-reveals-jewellery-hidden-second-world-war-museum-nazis), came as the material at the bottom of the mug degraded and separated. Workers said they would not be able to identify the owners but assumed it was hidden by someone who thought that the Nazis had planned to resettle rather than kill them. “We can see the fear of the person because they hid the jewelry,” Pawel Sawicki [told the AFP](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/19/auschwitz-mug-reveals-jewellery-hidden-second-world-war-museum-nazis). “But in a way we also see the hope that the person had \[for their survival\].” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4341635/auschwitz-jewelry-nazis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4341635/auschwitz-jewelry-nazis/"},"headline":"Jewelry Hidden in Mug at Auschwitz Discovered After 70 Years","datePublished":"2016-05-19T14:49:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:40:56.439Z","description":"Museum workers won't be able to identify the owner","url":"https://time.com/4341635/auschwitz-jewelry-nazis/","keywords":["WWII"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte63b5a5b03340d1d/698893e88e060132f5465f3e/auschwitz-jewelry-mug.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte63b5a5b03340d1d/698893e88e060132f5465f3e/auschwitz-jewelry-mug.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Auschwitz jewelry mug","caption":"Auschwitz jewelry mug","creditText":"Bartosz Siedlik—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/wwii/","name":"WWII"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4341635/auschwitz-jewelry-nazis/","name":"Jewelry Hidden in Mug at Auschwitz Discovered After 70 Years"}}]}] ```