us-005578-irn520792-irn520810
has record set type: Item
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn520792-irn520810/acquisitions/1
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
type: RecordSet
date: before 1941 April 14
has or had holder: us-005578
record resource extent: overall: Height: 16.500 inches (41.91 cm) | Width: 9.000 inches (22.86 cm)
archival history: The dress was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 by Jas̆a Altarac, the brother of Lela Altarac.
title: Embroidered, pink dress once worn by Lela Altarac, who was killed in a bombing raid
identifier: irn520810
biographical history: Jaša Altarac was born on January 1, 1934 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (Serbia), to Mayer (Meir) and Mimi (Miriam) Finci Altarac. Mimi was born in 1910 in Brcko (now in Bosnia and Hercegovina). Her father was an accountant and she had two brothers, David and Shalom, and a sister, Frida. Shalom immigrated to Palestine before the war. Mayer was born in 1901 in Sarajevo (later in Bosnia and Hercegovina) and had a successful business as a marble craftsman and home contractor. Jaša’s younger sister, Lea Lela, was born in 1937. The family was well off, assimilated, and spoke Serbian. Mayer also supported his mother and other family members in Sarajevo. They traveled by car every year to celebrate Passover with Jaša’s grandmother in Sarajevo. Yugoslavia was held together by a totalitarian monarchy backed by the military. On April 6, 1941, continuing the policy of eastward expansion, Germany and Italy invaded Yugoslavia supported by Hungary and Bulgaria. Jaša and his family were in Sarajevo for Passover on April 14 and there was an aerial attack. The family rushed to the basement, and the house was directly hit by a bomb. Jaša was thrown through the air. His sister, Lela, was found in the arms of her grandmother, both dead. A few days later, German troops occupied Sarajevo. The family left the city ten days after the funeral for Sabac, a village in central Serbia. They stayed with Miloje Markovic, the foreman of Mayer’s business. On July 18, the family returned to Belgrade. Yugoslavia had been dismembered by the Axis Alliance and Serbia, where Belgrade located, was under German military government. Anti-Jewish policies were immediately implemented. Jews had to register with the police. Jewish men, including Mayer, were taken for forced labor. The Germans took hostages to prevent any resistance, and Jewish hostages were killed for any pretext. Mayer asked a former business partner, and Italian named Erminio Dorio, to help them obtain travel documents for the Italian occupation ter…
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn520792-irn520810/alternateIDs/1
scope and content: Pink dress with embroidery worn by four-year-old Lela Altarac, who was killed on April 14, 1941, in a German bombing raid on Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (later Bosnia and Hercegovina.) In September 1941, seven-year-old Jas̆a and his parents, Mayer and Mimi, fled Belgrade, Yugoslavia (later Serbia), for Skopje, Macedonia, following the German invasion in April. Yugoslavia had been dismembered by the Axis Alliance, and Skopje was now controlled by Bulgaria. A month later, Mayer encountered a man from Kosovo who recognized him as Jewish and the Altarac family fled that night to Pristina, which was under Italian control. There as a large Jewish refugee population there, as the Italians did not regularly deport Jews to the German-run concentration camps. In December 1941, the Jewish refugees in Pristina were ordered to move into a transit camp at the main prison. In March 1942, German authorities demanded the deportation of fifty-one Jews to German territory. This group included Jas̆a 's maternal aunt Frida Barta, her husband, and daughter. The Italians complied and they were all murdered. In September 1943, the Italian military commander informed the Jewish families that Italy had surrendered to the Allies and their troops were withdrawing from Pristina. Assuming the Germans would soon occupy the region, Jas̆a 's family took a taxi to Tirana, Albania. His mother sold hand knit sweaters, and one of her customers, Ganimet Toptani, learning that she was Jewish, offered to help them. Her husband, Atif Toptani, took the family to an estate outside of town. In August 1944, a German unit came to search the estate for weapons, as someone had shot at the soldiers. Atif showed them they had no weapons. They were not arrested, but they were ordered to move back to Tirana. That September, Tirana was liberated by the partisans. The family returned to Belgrade. In December 1948, the family immigrated to Israel.
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Young child’s, short sleeve dress made from light pink fabric with a white, scalloped, Peter Pan collar. Alternating pink and blue thread knots are sewn into each scallop. The short, puff sleeves are sewn to the bodice and gathered at the cuffs and shoulders. A colorful, embroidered design depicting a child at play is satin-stitched on the lower left side of the dress. The flared skirt is smocked below the bodice on the front and back, creating loose pleats beneath. The back of the bodice has three silver-colored metal snaps going down to the mid-back. The collar is fastened with two snaps, one of which is part of the back closure. There is light green-brown staining throughout, particularly on the right side.
is or was included in: us-005578-irn520792