A Dutch historical society returned jewels to a Jewish family on Thursday who had given them to neighbors before the Nazis forced them out of their home.
The jewels were returned to a descendent of Benjamin Slager and Lena Slager-de Vries at a ceremony in Winschoten in the north of the Netherlands on Oct. 28, exactly 72 years after her relatives and 500 Jews in town were deported to the Westerbork concentration camp.
Before they were forced onto the train, the Slagers gave the jewels to their neighbors for safekeeping. The box was passed down through the generations with instructions to keep it for the Slagers.
But last year, the box’s guardian gave it to a local historical society, which was able to discover the owners.