A precious gold pendant that had survived the entirety of the Holocaust and the Communist rule of Eastern Europe has been lost because of the custom officers at Heathrow Airport, London’s gateway airport.
This family heirloom was reportedly made sometime between 1927 and 1941 by Vilem Werner, a Jewish Czech resident. He had created the pendant for his niece Eva Porges and had inscribed her name into the pendant.
For many years, the family heirloom was passed around as sign of the tenacity and resilience of the family. However, the heirloom that survived some of the worst periods in human history went missing on April 3rd, when a distant relative of Eva took the pendant to Oxford via Heathrow.
Eva’s husband said that he decided to give the pendant to Mim Saxl, the relative who lives in Oxford, because Saxl’s daughter has been named after Eva and thus he thought it would be extremely meaningful to give it to someone who bears Eva’s name.
Saxl, who was the planned recipient of the heirloom, said that Eva’s husband had sent both the real one and a copy for her older daughter because he didn’t want anyone to feel left out.
She said that the only mistake that Eva’s remaining family made was sending the heirloom as a registered delivery. By declaring the value, Saxl believes that the heirloom became a prime target for workers because it was both very small and high in value.
Saxl said that she believes the pendant was taken by one of the workers, although she admitted that there is no way for her to specify or identify the one who did it. Nonetheless, she said she feels responsible because she knows Eva’s family wanted to keep and protect the heirloom.
The heirloom had a very special meaning within the family because it was the last gift that Werner had left in the world – he was killed by the Nazis along with his wife and daughter in a concentration camp in 1942.
The only reason that the heirloom survived in the first place was because Wener managed to sneak the pendant into the hands of a friend, which was delivered to the rightful owner after the war ended.
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Replaced!