Friendship ring engraved GG made from silver spoons in the Riga ghetto

Friendship ring engraved GG made from silver spoons in the Riga ghetto 

Friendship ring engraved GG made from silver spoons in the Riga ghetto 

overall: Height: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm) | Width: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Depth: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) 

Engraved silver ring made from a spoon for Gerda Gerstl, 12, in March 1943 in the Riga ghetto. Gerda and her friend Hanka Spiegel had rings made for Hanka’s 12th birthday by Issi Lurie, a silversmith who worked with Hanka’s father Karl in the Luftwaffe uniform deposit. Gerda and Hanka traded their rings in fall 1943 when they were separated. Hanka kept Gerda’s ring until her liberation in March 1945, wearing it upside down on her hand and hiding it in her mouth during selections. Gerda and Hanka met at the Viennese school in the ghetto. Hanka and her parents were sent to Riga from Theresienstadt in January 1942. Gerda, her parents Oskar and Karoline, and sister Liesl were sent from Vienna in February 1942. Gerda’s parents were executed in the forest upon arrival. In fall 1943, Hanka and her parents were sent to Kaiserwald concentration camp in Riga, where Hanka’s father was killed. Hanka and her mother Dolli were sent to Stutthof concentration camp, then Sophienwalde labor camp, and were liberated by Soviet forces in March 1945. In October 1944, Gerda and Liesl were sent to Stutthof and later perished.