English: View of the camp.
English: View of the camp. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Campaign Chunk Volume 10.4 – The 17 Unknown Soldiers

World War II had many atrocities committed. One such was the so-called concentration camps, in which a government forces many people to live. Usually, those people belong to groups that the government does not like. The government may think these people are its enemies and they are often sent here without trial or being found guilty. Some of the camps used those housed within as slave workers and others, like the infamous Auschwitz, were classed as death camps, where people were held before being killed.

During some maintenance on one of the camps many years later, a wall was accidentally broken. In which was discovered a small safe containing several lists and documents. All but on of the documents was cleared as being simple records, apart from one list. This list had 17 names on it, each with a rank and serial number and some odd marks. Some of them look like ticks, other like crosses. One of them has what looks like a star next to his name and another has what can be described as the infinity symbol, or possibly the number 8.

The military has confirmed that these people did exist, but have refused to go divulge any other information about them. Several attempts have been made to find more information about these “List Men”, as they have been dubbed by the media and public, but the military has point-blank refused to go into any details.

Several plays, stories and even a movie have been made about the “17 unknown Soldiers” and the list, with a sizeable chunk of the income made going to support the families and veterans of the many wars around the world.

Hooks & Rumours

  • One popular theory is that the 17 were sent to the camp to replace or extract some high-ranking prisoners needed for the war effort
  • Evidence has come to life that all those on the list in fact “died” several years before the war started
  • The descendants of many of this “List Men” are starting a legal campaign to discover what actually happened to their family
  • Another copy of the list has been discovered in another camp. Experts belive it to be an older list, with the names in the same order, but only the first 10 have symbols next to them. This camp was found many hundreds of miles away from the first one
  • A copy of the list has gone on display at a popular war museum. Critics are complaining that it is not an accurate copy and several important bits of information have been removed, with others saying it is as close to the original as you can get, without being the prime version.
  • A charity screen of the latest movie about the list called “The Lost 17” is being held soon and there is rumoured to be an organised protest about the military’s refusal to reveal who these people were, even though the war ended over 50 years ago.

Inspired by – Historian uncovers list of 17 British soldiers’ names hidden at Auschwitz
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/5297597/Historian-uncovers-list-of-17-British-soldiers-names-hidden-at-Auschwitz.html

Volume 9 of the compiled and updated Campaign Chunks is available at DrivethruRPG.com
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/178179/Campaign-Chunk–Volume-9

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