us-005578-irn521890-irn522367
history: Salomon (Salek) Strauss was born on November 2, 1912 in Warez, Poland, into a religious family. He was the oldest of seven children born in to Lajb Strauss and Szajndla Markus Strauss: Izydor, born 1918; Genek, born 1920; Fanka born 1922; Bejla born 1926; Wilek born1928, and Heniek, born 1930. In 1939, Salek lived in Lvov, in a rented room in the Katz family home. He worked as a tailor, but devoted most of his time to his Communist party activities. He had a girlfriend, Klara Tabak,who lived in a nearbv village, Ksawerowka, with her father, Josef Tabak, and her extended family on the estate of a Polish landowner, whose land they rented. On September 1, 1939, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany. Salek was mobilized into the 19th Infantry Battalion, Polish Army, which moved west to defend the access to the Polish capital on the Kutno-Warsaw line. On September 16, Salomon and his battalion were captured by the Germans, near Plock. Salek was wounded and placed in a field hospital. There were rumors that the soldiers would be divided according to ethnic groups: Poles, Jews, and Ukrainians, and so on. Salek feared discovery not only as a Jew, but also as a Communist. Since he had been called Tomek by his Polish Communist friends, he considered introducing himself as Tomasz Strauss, and claiming he was German. Instead, he decided to call himself Tomasz Timofiej Marko; Marko after his mother’s maiden name and Timofiej as the Ukrainian version of Thomas. He destroyed his Polish identification, but kept his girlfriend’s photograph, since it was signed only with the letter “K”. He also kept a photograph of his paternal uncle in his WWI Austrian Army uniform, and renamed him Heinrich Marko, in place of Hersz Strauss. The possession of family photographs made it less likely that he would be accused of hiding his background. The prisoners-of war were moved to Piatek transit camp, and then to Stalag II A Neubrandenburg. Timofiej Marko was given prisoner number 10998. Conditions in …
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Flexible, dense, light brown rubber rod tube with a hard, black, rubber handle wrapped in grooved, black painted rubber. The handle top is missing and the inner core has a hole and is cracked. The round handle bottom has small missing sections.
history: The nightstick was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Eva Strauss-Marko, the wife of Salomon Strauss-Marko.
has or had holder: us-005578
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn521890-irn522367/acquisitions/1
title: Rubber truncheon used by a Polish prisoner of war passing as Ukrainian in a German stalag
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn521890-irn522367/alternateIDs/1
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
is or was included in: us-005578-irn521890
date: approximately 1941 February-1945
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
scope and content: Rubber baton used by Salomon (Salek) Strauss in his assumed identity as Tomasz (Timofiej) Marko when he was a labor group leader in Wiener-Neustadt concentration camp in Austria. On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and Salomon was mobilized into the 19th Infantry Battalion, Polish Army. On September 16, he was captured as a prisoner of war and taken to Stalag II A in Germany. Salek feared discovery as a Jew and a Communist and created an identity as a Ukrainian, Tomasz Timofiej Marko. He maintained this identity from September 1939- May 1945 in several POW stalags and concentration/labor camps. Salomon was declared a racially pure Ukrainian and released from Stalag VIII-B in February 1941. He was provided training in metal work and made the leader of groups of Ukrainian laborers in Germany and Austria. He was able to travel and provided many with false identification papers. On May 9, 1945, the Wiener-Neustadt region was liberated by the Soviet Army. Salomon identified himself and was arrested by the Soviets, charged with treason, and sentenced to death. He was released with the aid of a Soviet Jewish officer. His entire family was killed by Ukrainian collaborationists in 1943. After the war, he enlisted in the Polish Army. Salomon changed his name to Strauss-Marko to commemorate his wartime ordeal.
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn522367
record resource extent: overall: Height: 13.750 inches (34.925 cm) | Width: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Depth: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm)
type: RecordSet