us-005578-irn35862-irn36332
type: RecordSet
archival history: The towel was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 by Kay Nabel, the daughter of Henryka Selinger.
biographical history: Henryka Lewinger was born near Krakow, Poland, when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Her mother was Leontyna Grubaum Lewinger; her father died when she was a young girl. She had a brother, Alexander (?- 1952), who moved to Vienna, Austria, as a young man. In 1938, he immigrated to the United States with his wife and son. She also had a sister, Mincia Warenhaupt. She married Wilhelm Selinger, who was born in Krakow to Abraham and Helena. The family was extremely religious. He had an older brother who immigrated to Paris and operated a fur business. Wilhelm had a store in Krakow where he repaired and sold machinery which he imported from Germany. Henryka and Wilhelm had three children. Their eldest daughter, Maryla, was born in Vienna in 1914; they had moved there because it was safer during the First World War, 1914-1918. Their son, Jan, was born in 1915-16 in Krakow and Krystyna was born on October 20, 1922, also in Krakow. The family was not particularly religious, though Wilhelm attended weekend services and the family observed the Jewish holidays. The children attended public schools with a mixture of Jewish and non-Jewish students. After the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, her husband and eldest daughter fled Krakow, while Henryka and Krystyna remained in Krakow. They hid in their basement during the bombing raids and Krakow was occupied within a week. Jan was drafted into the Polish military, but after the German occupation, the family lost contact with him. Krystyna and her boyfriend, Edward Nabel, left Krakow for Lvov (Lviv,Ukraine) in the Soviet controlled eastern territory a few days later. They would marry there to prevent Krystyna from being deported to Siberia. The Germans established a Jewish ghetto in Krakow and the family was imprisoned there in September 1940. The Germans decided to liquidate the ghetto in 1943 and Henryka, Wilhelm, Maryla, and her husband were deported to Treblinka concentration camp where they were killed…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular, well worn white cloth towel with blue and orange stripes, fringe on the short ends, and initials embroidered in blue thread in one corner. It is worn thin in areas, and there are holes and repairs. stitched in one corner in blue thread : H.S.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1939-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn36332
is or was included in: us-005578-irn35862
record resource extent: overall: Height: 45.000 inches (114.3 cm) | Width: 16.125 inches (40.958 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Towel used by Kay Selinger Nabel throughout the Holocaust, 1939-1945. It originally belonged to her mother, Henryka Selinger, whose initials are embroidered in one corner. Soon after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Kay left her family in Krakow and fled with her future husband, Edward Nabel, to Lvov (Lviv, Ukraine] where his parents had already relocated. They married there in June 1940. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, they returned to Krakow to escape the anti-Jewish pogroms launched by the Germans and the local Ukrainian population. When the Krakow ghetto was being liquidated by the Germans, Henryka and Kay's father, Kay's sister and her husband, and Edward's parents were deported to Treblinka killing center and murdered. Kay and Edward were sent to Bauhof labor camp. They later escaped and, around November 1942, assumed false identities as Polish Catholics. They were sent as forced labor to Germany. Under their false identities, they were not married, so although for a time they worked on the same farm, most of this time they were assigned to separate locations. When they learned that Allied forces were approaching, they escaped and hid in the forests near Kongishofen where they were liberated by American troops on April 8, 1945. In October 1949, Kay and Edward emigrated to the US.
title: Monogrammed bath towel used in the Krakow ghetto