During World War II, many Jews, knowing they would likely be deported from their homes, or from the ghettos to which they had been confined, hid their belongings underground or gave them to neighbors for safekeeping—hoping to reclaim them upon their return, and often not realizing how unlikely that return would be. Such was likely the story behind a recent discovery in the Polish city of Lodz, which was the location of one of the Nazis’ largest and longest-standing ghettos. The Times of Israel reports:

About 400 items believed to have been hidden in the ground by their Jewish owners during World War II have been accidentally uncovered during home renovation work in a yard in Lodz in central Poland. History experts say that the objects found in the city’s Polnocna Street include Hanukkah menorahs and items used in daily life; . . . perfume bottles and cigarette holders were also found in the trove, located some 70 centimeters underground.

The stash was found in December, and two of the menorahs were lit on December 22 during Hanukkah celebrations organized by the city’s Jewish community. Some of the items were found wrapped in Polish-, Yiddish-, and German-language newspapers.

The items are mostly silver-plated tableware, menorahs, and glass containers for cosmetics, according to the regional office for the preservation of historic objects. . . . After restoration and cleaning, items found in the trove will be handed over to the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography in Lodz, where researchers will try to determine the identity of the items’ owner.

In October, a young Mauritanian national murdered an Orthodox Jewish man on his way to synagogue in Chicago. This alone should be sufficient sign of the rising dangers of anti-Semitism. Nathan Diament explains how the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA) can, if passed, make American Jews safer:

We were off to a promising start when the AAA sailed through the House of Representatives in the spring by a generous vote of 320 to 91, and 30 senators from both sides of the aisle jumped to sponsor the Senate version. Then the bill ground to a halt.

Fearful of antagonizing their left-wing activist base and putting vulnerable senators on the record, especially right before the November election, Democrats delayed bringing the AAA to the Senate floor for a vote. Now, the election is over, but the political games continue.

You can’t combat anti-Semitism if you can’t—or won’t—define it. Modern anti-Semites hide their hate behind virulent anti-Zionism. . . . The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act targets this loophole by codifying that the Department of Education must use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism in its application of Title VI.