Each year, roughly 250,000 items are forgotten in the trains or on the platforms belonging to Deutsche Bahn, the German railway operator, which transports more than two billion passengers per year.

Oftentimes an object finds its owner — its Verlierer, or “loser” — within the first few weeks.

The local lost-and-found offices (there are more than 80 nationwide) spend a month actively working on each case before they send the object to the central office in the city of Wuppertal.