Fragment of a blanket acquired by Olga Rosenberger Horak following liberation of a concentration camp

Fragment of a blanket acquired by Olga Rosenberger Horak following liberation of a concentration camp 

Fragment of a blanket acquired by Olga Rosenberger Horak following liberation of a concentration camp 

Blanket fragment acquired by 18-year-old Olga Horak at the recently liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in 1945. The donor, Olga, described receiving the blanket while she was lying, frozen, half-naked, and near death on the grounds of the camp. She recalled that a former Kapo covered her with the blanket and left. Olga never saw that Kapo again. The fragment is woven from a blend of animal and human hair. Prisoners at most camps had their hair shaved during their initial processing. As resources became scarce, Germany used hair to make textile products, such as blankets and socks for the Army and Navy, gaskets, and other items for the automotive industry. Bergen-Belsen was liberated April 15, 1945, by British and Canadian troops. At liberation, Olga weighed only 64 pounds and was ill with typhus. Olga's mother Piroška collapsed and died in the camp that same day. The family was discovered in hiding and deported from Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) to Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. After being selected for forced labor, Olga was sent to Gross-Rosen concentration camp. In January 1945, she arrived in Bergen-Belsen on a death march. After recuperating for several months in various hospitals, Olga returned to Bratislava in fall 1945. She married John Horak in 1947, and they fled the impending Communist Russian takeover. In 1949, they settled in Australia.