Gray dress with prison number 1195 and id tag worn by a Jehovah's Witness inmate

Object | Accession Number: 1995.95.1 a-b

Overview

Brief Narrative: gray dress and ID tag with her prisoner number 1195 worn by Frieda Koschmieder while interned in Amberg prison in Germany for being a Jehovah's Witness. The Nazi regime persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to put any authority before God. The missionary and outreach work practiced by members was viewed as subversive activity against the Nazi regime, leading to many arrests, as well as executions.
Date: use: approximately 1939-1945
Geography: use: Zuchthaus Amberg; Amberg (Germany : Landkreis)
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Hermine Schmidt

Classification: Clothing and Dress
Category: Concentration camp uniforms
Object Type: Prison uniforms (lcsh)
Physical Description: a. gray woven twill cotton cloth dress dyed black on the right side with a printing method. On the back, yellow stripes were printed on the gray background. A rectangular yellow cotton patch is inserted in the right sleeve. An identification number, 1195, is embroidered with white floss on the right breast pocket. The bodice is lined with white cotton. The front has 4 blue covered buttons. The dress is quite worn.
b. Metal tag bearing number 1195.
Materials: a : cotton, dye, thread
b : metal
Inscription: a. front right pocket, embroidered, white floss : 11 95

Topical Term: Jehovah's Witnesses--Germany--Biography. Jehovah's Witnesses--Nazi persecution--Germany--Biography. Political prisoners--Germany--Biography. World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German.

Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: The uniform dress was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Hermine Schmidt, the son of Freida Koschmieder.