Overview
- Brief Narrative
- A pair of straw shoes manufactured by forced laborers in the Łódź ghetto straw shoe workshop in approximately 1942. The workshop was located at 88/90 Brzezinska Street corner 7 Widok Street. More than 77,000 pairs of shoes which were made for German soliders to wear over their leather shoes to protect them from the cold while serving on the Eastern front. They were found by the second generation of a Polish family who were evicted from their home by German authorities in 1940 when Jewish inmates of the ghetto moved in. In January 1945, after liberation, the family returned to their home and continued to live there for many decades. In 2005 the shoes were discovered in their attic during renovations. The head of the family offered them to Aleksander Herszkowicz, whose father was a well known singer from the Łódź ghetto.
- Date
-
manufacture:
approximately 1942
- Geography
-
manufacture:
Łódź (Poland)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, The Abraham and Ruth Goldfarb Family Acquisition Fund
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Dress Accessories
- Category
-
Footwear
- Object Type
-
Sandals (lcsh)
- Genre/Form
- Accessories (Clothing & dress)
- Physical Description
- a. Straw shoe
b. Straw shoe - Materials
- a : straw
b : straw
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material. Museum staff are currently unable to copy, digitize, and/or photograph collection materials on behalf of researchers. Researchers are encouraged to plan a research visit to consult collection materials themselves.
- Conditions on Use
- Material(s) in this collection may be protected by copyright and/or related rights. You do not require further permission from the Museum to use this material. The user is solely responsible for making a determination as to if and how the material may be used.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Forced labor
- Geographic Name
- Łódź (Poland)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The shoes were acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005.
- Record last modified:
- 2025-07-18 14:06:44
- This page:
- http://collections.ushmm.org/search/bookmarks/irn550233
Download & Licensing
In-Person Research
- Not Available for Research
Contact Us
Also in Łódź ghetto shoes
The collection consists of three shoes manufactured by forced laborers in the Łódź ghetto straw shoe workshop during the Holocaust.
Date: approximately 1942
Straw shoe manufactured by forced laborers in a Łódź ghetto workshop
Object
Straw shoe manufactured by forced laborers in the Łódź ghetto straw shoe workshop in approximately 1942. The workshop was located at 88/90 Brzezinska Street corner 7 Widok Street. More than 77,000 pairs of shoes which were made for German soliders to wear over their leather shoes to protect them from the cold while serving on the Eastern front. They were found by the second generation of a Polish family who were evicted from their home by German authorities in 1940 when Jewish inmates of the ghetto moved in. In January 1945, after liberation, the family returned to their home and continued to live there for many decades. In 2005 the shoes were discovered in their attic during renovations. The head of the family offered them to Aleksander Herszkowicz, whose father was a well known singer from the Łódź ghetto.
