Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Brown plastic lice comb used by Borbala (Babi) Nussbacher while imprisoned at Auschwitz, Riga, Stutthof, Guttau and Neumark concentration camps from May 1944-May 1945. Babi, her husband Josef Polak, her parents, and siblings lived in Cehu Silvaniei, in Transylvania, an area of Romania absorbed in August 1940 by Hungary. Josef was put into a forced labor battalion for the Hungarian Army and sent to Ukraine, where he later perished. In March 1944, Germany occupied Hungary. Babi and her family were forced into the Szilagysomlyo ghetto in 1944 and deported to Auschwitz in May 1944. Babi’s father and stepmother were killed. Babi was selected for labor and sent to several more camps, including Riga, Stutthof, Guttau, and Neumark. She was liberated in May 1945. She returned to Romania and found that her siblings had survived. She met Denes-Deszo (Duzsi) Herskovits, a survivor from Seini, Romania. They married in 1947 and settled in Romania.
- Date
-
use:
approximately 1944 May-1945 May
- Geography
-
use:
Auschwitz (Concentration camp);
Oświęcim (Poland)
use: Kaiserwald (Concentration camp); Riga (Latvia)
use: Stutthof (Concentration camp); Sztutowo (Poland)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Miriam Shelef
- Contributor
-
Subject:
Borbala Herskovits
- Biography
-
Borbala (Babi) Nussbacher was born on April 15, 1915, to Herman and Aranka Wind Nussbacher in Bobota, Transylvania, which became part of Romania in 1918. Herman was born in 1889 and was a shop keeper. Babi's sister Margaret (Gicu), was born in 1918 or 1919, and her brother, Alexander, in 1920. Aranka died in 1920. Herman married Elizabet Stark, who was born in 1895 in Romania. The family lived in Cehu Silvaniei. Babi married Josef Polak.
In 1937, the fascist Romanian government enacted anti-Jewish laws similar to those in Germany. In August 1940, the German and Italian foreign ministers pressured Romanian diplomats into giving northern Romania, including Cehu Silvaniei, to Hungary. The Hungarians began conscripting Romanian Jews to work in labor battalions for the Hungarian Army. Josef was conscripted into the Hungarian labor service and sent to the Ukraine. Hungary joined Germany in the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. After the German advance was halted in 1943, Hungary sought a truce with the Western Allies. In March 1944, Germany invaded Hungary. Jews outside of major cities were concentrated in regional centers. Babi was relocated to the Szilagy Somlyo ghetto (Simleu Silvaniei, Romania). In May, Hungarian authorities, in coordination with the Germans Security Police, began the systematic deportation of all the Jews in Hungary to concentration camps. Babi, Herman, and Elizabet were deported to Auschwitz in May 1944. Herman and Elizabet were killed. Babi was selected for labor service and transferred to several more salve labor/concentration camps, including Riga, Stutthof, and Guttau-Neumark. She saw American planes bombing the area and wished a bomb would fall into the camp to end their suffering. Babi was liberated in May 1945.
Babi returned to Romania. Her siblings Margaret and Alexander had survived, but her husband Josef perished in Ukraine. Babi met Duzsi Herskovits and they married in 1947. They settled in Satu Mare and had a daughter in 1950. The family immigrated to Israel in 1962. Margaret and Alexander also immigrated to Israel. Duzsi, age 78, died on January 4, 1994. Babi, age 78, died in 1994.
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Personal Equipment and Supplies
- Object Type
-
Combs (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Rectangular mottled brown and light brown plastic lice comb, made to resemble wood. One side has about 60 fine, close-set teeth; several are broken, especially in the middle. The other side has 13 teeth, thicker and more widely spaced. The comb has straight short edges that angle inward on the side with wider teeth.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
- Materials
- overall : plastic
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Concentration camp inmates--Poland--Biography. Slave labor--Poland--Biography. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Hungary--Personal narratives, Jewish. Jews--Persecution--Romania--Biography. Women concentration camp inmates--Poland--Biography. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor--Hungary--Personal narratives, Romanian.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The comb was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Miriam Shelef, the daughter of Borbala (Babi) Nussbacher.
- 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:
- 2023-02-13 09:21:27
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn72310
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Also in Denes-Deszo and Borbala Nussbacher Herskovits collection
The collection consists of a safety razor and a photograph relating to the experiences of Denes-Deszo Herskovits, when he was a forced laborer in Hungary and an inmate in Gunskirchen concentration camp in Austria, and a lice comb belonging to Borbala (Babi) Nussbacher (later Herskovits), when she was deported from Szilagysomlyo ghetto in Hungarian annexed Romania to Auschwitz, then Riga, Stutthof, Guttau, and Neumark concentration camps.
Date: 1941-1943
Rotbart Mond-Extra safety razor with blade used by a Romanian Jewish prisoner
Object
Rotbart Mond-Extra safety razor with double edge blade used by Denes-Deszo (Duzsi) Herskovits and possibly acquired when he was interned at Ditro, a forced labor camp in Hungary. Duzsi lived in Nagybanya, in Transylvania, an area of Romania absorbed in August 1940 by Hungary. In 1941, Duzsi was conscripted into forced labor for the Hungarian Army and sent to labor camps in Ditro and Csikrakos. At some point in 1944, Duzsi and six friends escaped the labor camp. On February 2, 1945, they were captured by German troops, who had occupied Hungary since March 1944. Duzsi and the others were deported to Gunskirchen concentration camp, a subcamp of Mauthausen in Austria. Duzsi was liberated by the US Army in May and returned to Romania to search for his family. He learned that his mother and three of his siblings had been killed in Auschwitz in June 1944. He married Borbala (Babi) Nussbacher, a survivor from Bobota, Romania, in 1947.
Denes-Deszo "Duzsi" Herskovits photograph
Document
Consists of a photograph of Denes-Deszo "Duzsi" Herskovits in the Ditro forced labor camp in Hungary, dated 1943.
