Corroded metal spoon with an oval-shaped bowl and a flat, narrow, metal stem connected to the wide end. The stem is joined to the bowl with a small rounded section that has a raised decorative pattern. The stem is long and straight, with a raised central rib, and widens as it reaches the handle. The handle ends in a wide asymmetric oval with a raised feather pattern along the top edge that extends slightly past the end, creating a small protrusion. The backside of the stem and handle have similar raised designs as the front. Both the front and back of the spoon have patches of silver-colored plating, while a heavy green and brown corrosion cover the exposed surfaces. back, stem, handwritten, black ink : CHO 46
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The teaspoon was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by the Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie.
overall: Height: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) | Width: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Depth: 5.875 inches (14.923 cm)
Metal teaspoon, likely recovered from a temporary pit furnace at Chelmno killing center in German-occupied Poland, during an archaeological excavation in 1986 and 1987. Killing operations at Chelmno commenced on December 8, 1941. Prisoners were taken to a camp at a manor house (Schlosslager) in the village to undress and relinquish their valuables. They were then loaded into a gas van where they were killed. The van was then driven 2.5 miles northwest of the village to a camp in the Rzuchowski forest (Waldlager), where the bodies were dumped into mass graves. The large number of corpses created a threat of disease and discovery by Allied forces, so the bodies were exhumed and burned in seven primitive pit furnaces. In the fall of 1942, the furnaces were replaced with two open-air crematoria consisting of concrete foundations topped by a grate of train rails. In March 1943, transports to Chelmno stopped, and the manor house and open-air crematoria in the forest were demolished. Deportations to Chelmno resumed from June to July 1944, to facilitate the liquidation of the Łódź ghetto. In this second phase, the entire killing process was carried out in the forest camp (Waldlager), necessitating the construction of new buildings. The Germans abandoned the camp on January 17, 1945, having killed over 172,000 people. The excavations of 1986-87, and later work have identified additional furnaces, crematoria, and mass graves at the site.
Metal teaspoon recovered from Chelmno killing center