us-005578-irn39815-irn43733
type: RecordSet
archival history: The eyeglass sections were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Karl Schlesinger.
biographical history: Karl Schlesinger was born on February 22, 1917, in Breslau, Germany, (Wroclaw, Poland) to Philipp and Johanna Berkitz Schlesinger. Philipp was born on February 12, 1879, in Chelm, Poland. Johanna was born on January 10, 1883, in Chelm. Philipp was wounded fighting for Germany in World War I. He was a master tailor and owned a small business. Karl had four brothers: Bruno, Herbert, Kurt, and Siegbert, and one sister who died in 1918. The family was not religious but observed Jewish holidays. Karl was the only Jewish student at the Protestant high school. He attended a supplemental Jewish school and was active in Jewish sports associations and the synagogue choir. After Hitler assumed power in 1933, the majority of students in Kurt's school joined the Hitler Youth. One day, the dismissal bell rang and Karl stood up while a teacher was speaking. The teacher reprimanded him and said he was only a guest in Germany. Karl defended himself and told the dean of students, but was not supported. After graduation, Karl trained to be an electrician because he thought it would help him emigrate. In 1935, Herbert and his girlfriend were sentenced to two years in prison because he was Jewish and she was Christian. That year, Kurt moved to Palestine. In 1936, Bruno moved to South Africa. In 1938, Karl’s uncle got him a job on a chicken farm near Hamburg. He thought it could help him obtain a work visa for Argentina where his girlfriend had moved. During the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10, Karl hid in his uncle’s house in Hamburg for a week. His uncle was married to a Christian, and the house was not bothered. During the pogrom in Breslau, Philipp, Herbert, and Siegbert were sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. After they were released, Herbert moved illegally to Belgium with his fiance. In January 1939, Karl returned to Breslau to prepare to join Herbert. German authorities told Johanna they would arrest Karl if Herbert did not report to them. In February, Karl and seven ot…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: a. Tortoise shell patterned plastic eyeglass frames with semi-circular rims with a flat upper edge; the left rim is cracked. The bridge has a rectangular metal plate screwed to the front and reverse. A metal hinged endpiece connects the rim to the right temple. The left temple is missing and there are hinge remnants on the left endpiece. b. Eyeglass frame temple made of a metal rod coated with yellow plastic. The rectangular end tapers to a curved earpiece. c. Intact, ovular clear eyeglass lens with dark brown rust spots. d. Three semi-circular sections of a broken clear eyeglass lens with dark brown rusts spots and a small glass chip: 1 section with a vertical crack and an intact, rounded edge (1.125h x1.500w; 1 with an intact, rounded edge (0.625hx1.375w; and 1 with an intact, rounded edge that narrows to a slightly pointed edge (0.750hx1.250w).
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1939 May-1945 April
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had subject: 483
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn43733
is or was included in: us-005578-irn39815
record resource extent: a: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) | Depth: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) b: Height: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Width: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm) c: Height: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) | Width: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm) d: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Eyeglass frames, temple, and lenses worn by Karl Schlesinger while a prisoner in several concentration camps from May 1939, when he was 22, until April 1945. As he was processed for prison, a German civilian warned him not to wear his glasses so he hid them in his hands. The eyeglass bridge was repaired by a German civilian working in one camp. By May 1939, Karl had fled Nazi Germany for Belgium. He was imprisoned twice by the Belgians, first as an illegal Jewish refugee, then as a German spy. He was sent to a military hospital in France and when Germany occupied that country in June 1940, he was transferred to St-Cyprien and Gurs internment camps. In August 1942, Karl was deported to Trezbinia concentration camp, then to Auschwitz, where he was tattooed with 160304. In November 1943, he was sent to Warsaw to clean the ghetto after the failed uprising. When Soviet troops approached in July 1944, he was forced on a death march and sent by train to Dachau, then Allach. He was liberated on a train on April 29 in Starnberger See by an American tank division. He traveled to Feldalfing and other dp camps where he heard that his parents were alive in Berlin. After two tries, he illegally crossed into the Soviet sector to find them. Karl reunited with his parents, Philipp and Johanna, in Berlin that November.
title: Plastic eyeglass frames, temple and lenses worn by a Jewish concentration camp inmate