Celebrating liberty while being deported to a concentration camp Holocaust research center presents personal items Jews took with them as they were being sent to their deaths • Despite the limited items they were allowed to bring, they took things that belonged to their spiritual life and identity, says center's founder.

In every generation they rise up to destroy us, says the Haggadah, traditionally read at the Passover Seder. On Thursday, the Shem Olam Holocaust and Faith Institute showcased items that may have been used for Passover rituals at the Chelmno death camp in western Poland. They were discovered as a result of excavations at the site, in pits containing prisoners' belongings.

One item is a worn out and partially torn Haggadah that was burned by the Nazis. Several portions dealing with the search for chametz (leavened bread that is prohibited on Passover) and other sentences managed to survive. This gives the passages a new, chilling meaning that reflects on the unbelievable horrors the Jews had to endure during the Holocaust. "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; but God took us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm" (Deuteronomy 6:21) is one such sentence.

Shem Olam was founded in 1996 by Avraham Krieger. It is located in Kfar Haroeh, just north of Netanya. One of the institute's projects deals with how Jews coped with the day-to-day struggles during the Holocaust.

"The Nazis told Jews who had been deported to Chelmno that they were being relocated to a village faraway in the east; they told them each person could bring only lightweight items with a combined weight of 3 to 4 kilograms (7 to 9 pounds)," Krieger said.

"Because of the limited number of items they were allowed to carry, the Jews brought their most important items, but many brought with them things that belonged to their spiritual life and identity, things that represented the past, the present and their personal attachment to tradition.

"They probably wanted to make sure what they added to their luggage did not weigh too much and did not waste space, but the mere fact that they added these things shows that they were loyal to their faith, to the holiday and to tradition; they demonstrated that they did not let the Germans break their spirit.

"Most of the death camps had no such items left behind, but since Chelmno was the first death camp on Polish soil, the Nazis had yet to have at their disposal a sophisticated apparatus and consequently, some of the property was buried, and survived."