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Concentration camp striped uniform jacket and pants worn by Romanian Jewish female inmate

Object | Accession Number: 2010.471.1 a-b

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    Concentration camp striped uniform jacket and pants worn by Romanian Jewish female inmate
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    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Concentration camp uniform jacket and trousers worn by 31 year old Malka Polak-Adler from summer 1944-April 1945. She received the uniform in 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland from a friend and fellow inmate to whom it had been issued. Malka wore the uniform when she was transferred in August 1944 to Bergen-Belsen in Germany. In May 1944, six weeks after Germany occupied Hungary, Malka and her parents, Leib and Gitza, were deported from the Viseu de Sus ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her parents were killed, presumably upon arrival. Malka was transferred in August to Bergen-Belsen which was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945. Malka was hospitalized, then lived a displaced persons camp until 1946 when she returned to Ruscova, Romania.
    Date
    use:  approximately 1944 May-1945 April
    Geography
    received: Birkenau (Concentration camp); Birkenau (Germany)
    use: Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp); Belsen (Bergen, Celle, Germany)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Marge Stern and the Stern Family
    Contributor
    Subject: Marge Stern
    Biography
    Malka Adler was born on May 2, 1913, in Ruscova, Romania, to Leib Chaim (Arie) and Gitza Laya Polak Adler. She had one brother, Bentzi, who was born in 1915. Leib worked as a furrier. Hungary annexed the region in August 1940, and supported the targeted persecution of Jews. Bentzi was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp and, in 1943, was killed in an aerial attack during a forced march. After German forces occupied Hungary on March 19, 1944, Malka and her parents were forced into the Viseu de Sus (Felkovice) ghetto. In May 1944, they were deported by Hungarian authorities to Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Germany, where Leib and Gitza were killed. In August, Malka was transferred to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. On April 15, 1945, the camp was liberated by the British Army.
    After the war ended in May, Malka was admitted to the Bergen-Belsen hospital and then lived in the displaced persons camp there until returning to Ruscova in 1946. She then moved to Stramtura and later to Timisoara. She married Mendel Stern, who was born on July 18, 1914, in Stramtura. He was a Holocaust survivor who had been deported from Stramtura to the Kosice ghetto, and then to a forced labor camp in Austria. In 1965, they immigrated to the United States, had children and adopted the names Marge and Max. Max passed away, age 85, in January 2000. Marge passed away, age 96, on September 29, 2009.

    Physical Details

    Classification
    Clothing and Dress
    Object Type
    Uniforms (lcsh)
    Physical Description
    a. Dark blue and white, vertical woven, narrow-striped cotton twill jacket, and hip-length with long sleeves. The collar has a metal clasp below for closing. The front opening has 5 button holes; only one button, made of molded fiber pulp, remains. There are pockets on the left and right front sides.
    b. Dark blue and white, vertical woven, narrow-striped cotton twill pants with a flat front with a button fly; the buttons are missing. There is 1 right side front pocket. On the right side of the waist are 2 buttons, made of molded fiber pulp. On the left side waistband, the 2 buttons for the suspenders are missing, as well as the center button. On the back, below the waistband, are straps and a fiber pulp button for size adjustment.
    Dimensions
    a: Height: 26.500 inches (67.31 cm) | Width: 41.000 inches (104.14 cm)
    b: Height: 38.000 inches (96.52 cm) | Width: 16.000 inches (40.64 cm)
    Materials
    a : cotton, wood pulp, metal
    b : cloth, wood pulp, metal

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The concentration camp uniform was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Larry Stern, the son of Marge Stern. It was previously on loan to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum from 2005 by Marge Stern and the Stern Family.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2022-07-28 21:51:13
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn43161

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