In Berlin, a woman named Angelika Kontogeorgiou was presented with a watch that was stolen from her grandfather, Vasilios Kontogeorgiou, in a concentration camp 80 years ago. The watch was returned to Angelika by German authorities who invited her to the Greek embassy in Berlin for the ceremony. Vasilios Kontogeorgiou was arrested by the Germans in his hometown of Volos and sent to the Neuengamme concentration camp in May 1944. He endured forced labor at the Salzgitter-Watenstedt camp and survived pneumonia before being liberated. He returned to Greece, started a family, and passed away in 1997. Angelika expressed her gratitude for receiving such a personal item from her grandfather and spoke of his resilience and positive spirit despite his horrific experiences with the Nazis.
The pocket watch, which was taken from Vasilios by SS officers, had been kept in the International Tracing Service of the Red Cross in Bad Arolsen. It was enclosed in a brown envelope with the prisoner number 32820. Angelika was unaware of the watch's existence until it was presented to her. She found it incredibly touching to hold her grandfather's possession after so many years.
