Overview
- Brief Narrative
- White cloth badge like the one Isaak Nementschik (later Irving Newman) wore while a prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp. It is printed with an inverted red triangle signifying that was a political prisoner, and his prisoner number 97905. Isaak, an accountant, and his wife, Lea, a dentist, and their children Fira, 6, and Boris, 2, lived in Kaunas (Kovno], Lithuania, which was occupied by Nazi Germany in June 1941. Isaak was arrested and taken to a fort where over 3000 of those captured were shot and killed. Isaak bribed a guard and hid in a hole. On his return to the ghetto, he worked as a forced laborer. Circa 1943, Irving was deported to Stutthof concentration camp. He was sent to Buchenwald ca. 1945 and escaped ca. April/May during a death march. He was found by a Czech woman who cared for him until he regained his health. He left to find his family and they were reunited in Łódź, Poland. In 1944, Lea had cut a hole in the ghetto fence and smuggled Fira, Boris, and a young cousin Llana out in sacks. They then survived in hiding. The family lived in displaced person camps in Germany until 1949, when they left for America.
- Date
-
use:
approximately 1944-1945 May
- Geography
-
use:
Buchenwald (Concentration camp);
Weimar (Thuringia, Germany)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Florence M. Post
- Contributor
-
Subject:
Irving Newman
Subject: Florence M. Post
- Biography
-
Isaak Nementschik (later Irving Newman) was a Jewish accountant born in April 1907 in Ukmerge, Lithuania. He married Lea Bernstein (Lisa Newman, 1910-), a dentist from Mariampole, Poland in May 1935. Together, they had a comfortable life in Kaunas, Lithuania and two children, Fira (Florence) born March 1936 and Boris (William) born April 1939. In the years leading up to World War II, Irving tried to obtain papers in order to flee Lithuania, but was unsuccessful. As persecution against Jews by the Nazis increased, the family was moved into the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto. In 1940, Irving was arrested with several thousand other professional Jewish men and taken to a fort in Kaunas where over 3,000 were shot and killed. Irving survived by bribing a guard and hiding in a hole. He returned home to work as a laborer and fed his family by trading valuable items for bread and potatoes.
Around 1943 Irving was deported to Stutthof concentration camp. His wife and children remained in the ghetto. Lisa later escaped the ghetto and smuggled the children out to safety in 1944 by cutting a hole in the ghetto fence and carrying Florence, William, and a cousin named Llana out in sacks. Florence and Llana were taken to a farm in the countryside of Lithuania where they stayed in hiding until the war ended. William stayed with a Christian woman living in Kaunas, whom Lisa paid by working as a migrant famer traveling around Lithuania. During this time, Irving was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp and escaped into the woods during a death march. Emaciated and starving, he was nursed back to health by a Czech woman who discovered him. The entire family survived the war and reunited in Łódź, Poland in 1945.
For four years the family lived in displaced person camps in West Germany, where Irving became active in writing for the Jidisze Cajtung, one of the largest displaced persons newspapers. In May 1949, the family immigrated to the United States aboard the SS Marine Marlin after obtaining papers from relatives in Connecticut. Irving died in 1984 in Connecticut.
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Identifying Artifacts
- Category
-
Badges
- Object Type
-
Prisoner badges (ushmm)
- Physical Description
- Unevenly cut, rectangular, discolored white cloth patch with frayed edges. Across the center are an inverted red inked triangle followed by the prisoner number 97905 handwritten in blue ink. There are smudges and small stains.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) | Width: 4.375 inches (11.113 cm)
- Materials
- overall : cloth, ink
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Concentration camp inmates--Germany--Biography. Concentration camp inmates--Poland--Biography. Death marches--Germany--Biography. Hidden children (Holocaust)--Lithuania--Biography. Holocaust survivors--United States--Biography. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Lithuania--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust--Lithuania--Biography.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The badge was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Florence N. Post, the daughter of Irving Newman.
- 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:
- 2023-12-06 11:54:31
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn531670
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Also in Irving Newman collection
The collection consists of a prisoner's badge, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to the experiences of Irving Newman before and during the Holocaust when he was deported from Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania, to Stutthof and Buchenwald concentration camps and after the war when he and his family lived in displaced persons camps in West Germany.
Date: 1935-1949
Irving Newman papers
Document
The Irving Newman papers are comprised primarily of newspaper clippings of articles Irving wrote for the Jidisze Cajtung while living in displaced persons camps in West Germany between 1945 and 1949. These articles are primarily in Yiddish and describe the situations of surviving Jews in Germany, relations with Germany, and preparations for relocation to Israel. Included among the newspaper clippings is correspondence soliciting articles, acknowledging the receipt of articles, and one letter written by Irving in which he describes his detainment. This collection also includes a series of photographs depicting the Newman family before and after World War II. Images taken before the war include Lisa and Irving’s wedding in 1935 and the young family in 1939 or 1940. Post war images include the surviving children and daily life at a displaced person’s camp in Erzabtei St. Ottilien near Landsberg am Lech, Germany and the Newman family aboard the SS Marine Marlin in route for the United States in 1949.
