us-005578-irn518486-irn44573
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn518486-irn44573/acquisitions/1
has or had holder: us-005578
record resource extent: overall: Height: 12.000 inches (30.48 cm) | Width: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm)
type: RecordSet
has record set type: Item
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Cloth cord necklace made with found materials. At one end, attached with twine, is a section of silver colored metal link bracelet with a circular clasp; nearby is a piece of ribbon with a raised dot pattern; at the center of the cord is a dark gray metal identification tag, etched 421. Attached to a knotted area of the cord is a silver metal, oval, religious medal with raised borders and a suspension ring; it has an embossed robed Virgin Mary, standing with a halo above her head, stars and rays of light emanating around her body, and French text around the border. The reverse of the medal has an embossed design of hearts and crowns. etched on identification tag : 421 embossed on medal : ... SECOURS A VOUS ...
identifier: irn44573
history: Renee Konstandt was born on August 20, 1927, in Vienna, Austria. Her father, Hugo, was born February 1, 1890, in Kostel, Czechoslovakia; her mother, Olga Braun, was born April 7, 1899, in Knittelfeld-Styer, near Graz, Austria. She had an older brother, Raoul, who was born on May 5, 1921, also in Vienna. Her father owned a chain of dry goods and linen stores around Austria. Renee enjoyed a pleasant, comfortable childhood, and was spoiled by her older brother. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and annexed the country. Anti-Jewish legislation was soon enacted to exclude Jews from participation in cultural, economic, and social life. The November 1938 Kristallnacht [Night of Broken Glass] pogrom was particularly brutal in Austria. Most of the synagogues in Vienna were destroyed and Jewish businesses were vandalized. Thousands of Jews were arrested and deported to concentration camps. Her father was arrested in May 1938 and deported to Dachau concentration camp, but was released in December 1939. In January 1941, he was arrested again by the Gestapo and held in jail in Vienna for a month before being released. That October, both of Renee’s parents were deported to the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, Poland. Due to a clerical error, Renee and her brother remained in Vienna. Raoul was taken briefly to a work camp outside of Vienna in October 1942, but soon returned. The siblings were deported in January 1943 to Theresienstadt (Terezin) in the former Czechoslovakia. Renee first worked with infants and then was transferred to a small farm detail that worked outside the ghetto. Because of the constant hunger, she and the other workers would often try to smuggle food in under their clothes, despite the body searches and frequent beatings. She occasionally saw her brother, who worked as a tailor, and he would sneak her bread, telling her that he got extra. They remained there until May 1944, when they were transferred to Auschwitz, where they lost contact with each o…
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn518486-irn44573/alternateIDs/1
title: Necklace of found materials made in a camp by an Austrian Jewish woman
is or was included in: us-005578-irn518486
has or had some members with language: fra
date: 1945 May-1946
scope and content: Necklace created by Renee Konstandt, 18, from materials she saved while imprisoned in Auschwitz and other camps during and immediately after the war ended in May 1945. The ID tag used in the necklace was given to her by a friend in Auschwitz. In October 1941, Renee's parents were deported from Vienna, Austria, to the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, Poland. Due to a clerical error, Renee and her older brother, Raoul, 20, were not put on the transport. They were deported in January 1941 to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp. In May 1944, they were sent to Auschwitz, where they were separated. Renee was sent to Neuengamme. In March 1945, she was sent to Bergen-Belsen where she was liberated on April 15, 1945, by British forces. She returned to Vienna to search for her family, but no one had survived. With the help of an uncle in Philadelphia, she emigrated to the United States in 1947.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
history: The necklace was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Renee Konstandt Lang.