Fire at Death Camp Destroys Shoes of Nazi Victims 

August 10, 2010 

Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland — A fire broke out overnight in one of barracks of the former Nazi death camp of Majdanek in Lublin, Poland, destroying more than half of the building and about 10,000 shoes of Holocaust prisoners, officials said. The Majdanek museum said the fire broke out shortly before midnight on Monday. The cause of the fire is not yet known and the experts are investigating."A museum guard noticed smoke coming out of the former camp's kitchen," the museum said on its website. He immediately called firefighters and cut the camp's electricity.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the damage to the site was estimated at 1 million zlotys, or around $330,000.In Israel, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said, "The damage to these irreplaceable items is a loss to a site that has such historical value to Europe, Poland and the Jewish people."


An estimated 80,000 people, including some 60,000 Jews, were killed at the SS-run camp near Lublin in occupied Poland between October 1941 and its liberation by Soviet troops in July 1944. 

Fire at South African Retirement Home Kills at Least 18

Associated Press

August 2, 2010

Eighteen elderly people died after a fire swept through their old age and frail care center outside of Johannesburg, South African emergency services said Monday, as investigators began digging through the rubble to determine the cause of the fire. Paramedics said another 84 people were rescued from the Pieter Wessels old age home about 40 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of Johannesburg.

One of the victims died from a heart attack after being evacuated to a nearby church. The fire broke out late Sunday. The Netcare rescue agency said Monday that 17 bodies were recovered from razed buildings at the home. Three of the survivors were hospitalized for burn treatment. Most of the others had suffered from smoke inhalation.

Family members who gathered outside the home Monday said survivors, many of them disabled and in wheelchairs, were rescued in their pajamas and lost their clothing and belongings.

Zweli Dlamini, a district official, said DNA tests were needed to identify some of the victims who were burned beyond recognition.  

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