us-005578-irn515276-irn515291
has or had holder: us-005578
archival history: The yellow cloth strip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Gisela Zamora.
has record set type: Item
is or was included in: us-005578-irn515276
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
date: 1944 October-1945 May
record resource extent: overall: Height: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) | Width: 7.250 inches (18.415 cm)
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn515276-irn515291/acquisitions/1
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn515276-irn515291/alternateIDs/1
title: Yellow cloth strip sewn to a slave laborer's uniform to identify her as a Jew
type: RecordSet
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Small, rectangular strip of yellow cloth previously sewn to the back of a prisoner's clothing. All 4 frayed edges have been folded over as hems and fragments of blue sewing thread are visible in the machine stitched hem. It is heavily soiled from use and has a remnant of red paint on the front, possibly remnants of a red triangle.
identifier: irn515291
biographical history: Gisela Bina Eckstein was born on February 5, 1928, in Battenberg, Germany, to Berthold and Bertha Marx Eckstein. Berthold was born on January 28, 1893, in Friedberg to Moses and Hanna Blumenthal Eckstein. Berthold was one of twelve children. He was an officer in the German Army during World War I (1914-1918), was wounded in the right shoulder, and awarded the Iron Cross. Bertha was born on March 29, 1895, in Battenberg to Moses and Beena Neuburger Marx. Bertha had three brothers and two sisters and her family had lived in the area for three generations. Moses owned a shoe business. Berthold and Bertha married in 1926 and settled in Battenberg. Berthold worked as an agronomist for the Hesse-Nassau provincial government. Gisela had one brother, Norbert, born in 1929. Bertha observed Jewish laws and kept kosher, but Berthold did not because of his job. The Nazi government came to power in 1933. Battenberg had a Nazi Party mayor and the family increasingly experienced anti-Semitism. Gisela and Norbert had to sit in the back row at school with the Roma children. Romani boys exposed themselves to Gisela and a non-Jewish student told the teacher, who did nothing. Her non-Jewish friends were forbidden to talk to her and she was afraid to sleep because a neighbor threw stones through the windows. Berthold lost his job because he was Jewish. He took over Moses’ business, but it was difficult to maintain as Jewish businesses were boycotted. They survived on money from Bertha’s sister and brother. The family attempted to emigrate to the United States, but their applications were rejected because of Berthold’s war disability In 1937, the family moved to Friedberg which was a larger, more liberal town. Gisela and Norbert attended the Jewish District School in the nearby town, Bad Nauheim. During the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10, 1938, Berthold was arrested and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp. Gisela and Norbert hid in the attic. The family’s porcelain, crystal …
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
scope and content: Yellow strip of cloth from the uniform worn by 16 year old Gisela Zamora when she was a slave laborer at Maerzdorf concentration camp from October 1944 to May 1945. The strip was sewn to the back of her uniform to identify her as a Jew. It may have had a red triangle painted on it. Gisela, her parents, Berthold and Bertha, and her brother Norbert, age 12, were deported from Battenberg, Germany, to Ghetto Theresienstadt in September 1942. The family was transported in August 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp where Gisela was separated from them and sent to Birkenau. In October, she was shipped to Maerzdorf where she worked as slave labor in a linen factory. The camp was liberated by Soviet troops on May 8, 1945. Gisela was hospitalized for many months after the war. She had no surviving relatives in Europe, but a maternal uncle was discovered in the US. She emigrated to New York in March 1947.