Lavender blouse with tie worn during a young woman's escape from the Warsaw ghetto

Blouse worn by 25 year old Hanna Warhaftig when she escaped from the Warsaw ghetto in March 1943. The blouse originally belonged to her mother, Basia, who gave it to her, with her blessing, to wear for her escape. Hanna wore it on special occasions while living in hiding on the Aryan side because it made her feel safe. Her mother was murdered in Treblinka in 1942 and this blouse is the only thing saved from her prewar life. The Jewish ghetto in Warsaw was established by the Germans not long after their September 1939 occupation of Poland. From summer 1942 on, there were frequent mass deportations of Jew to concentration camps. In January 1943, as the Germans prepared to deport the remaining inhabitants, they were met with resistance and withdrew. In April, the Germans brought in fresh troops and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. It ended with the destruction of the ghetto in May. Hanna survived the remainder of the war by living in hiding. The rest of her family perished during the Holocaust.