us-005578-irn39815-irn43734
type: RecordSet
archival history: The prisoner's identification badge was 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: Five sided, silver-colored metal identification badge with a square top that narrows to a pointed inverted triangular base. Two stamped, horizontal lines divide it into 3 sections with stamped numbers at the top. Small holes are pierced through each upper corner and the bottom point. There are yellow and red enamel paint remnants. On the reverse is yellow tape with handwritten text and dates in blue ink. reverse, tape, blue ink : CARL / ScHLESiNGER / # DACHAU / 1944 - 1945
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1944 August-1945 April
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had subject: 483
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn43734
is or was included in: us-005578-irn39815
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Width: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Shield shaped, metal identification badge with prisoner number 87308 issued to 27-year-old Karl Schlesinger in Dachau concentration camp in August 1944. It is painted yellow and red to identify Karl as a Jew. 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: Metal ID badge with number 87308 issued to a Jewish prisoner