us-005578-irn522410-irn522435
type: RecordSet
archival history: The wrist watch was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by George O. Zimmerman, the son of Karola Ogurek Zimmerman and stepson of Chaskiel Zimmerman.
biographical history: Jerzy “Jurek” Jakub Ogurek was born in Katowice, Poland, on October 20, 1933, to Alexander and Karola Fiszer Ogurek. Alexander was born in Krakow and earned a law degree in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He was an insurance adjustor for the Polish branch of Italy’s largest insurance company. He met Karola Fiszer when he provided service for her father after a robbery. The couple married on April 16, 1932, and lived in Bedzin with Karola’s parents, Izak and Helene Fiszer, observant Jews who owned a leather store. Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, and the family fled by train to Kielce, but returned by horse drawn cart after a week. The family home was divided and the two front rooms were occupied by Germans. Alexander now worked as the supervisor of a German leather factory and Karola worked there as the bookkeeper. Jurek was left alone during the day. Germans came to the house and took their furniture. After a curfew restricted Jews from the streets, the family moved from near the train station to near the slaughterhouse. Karola’s cousin, Max Fiszer, his wife, and daughter, Rutka, age 14, also lived in Bedzin and owned land next to the train station where Jurek helped with the vegetable garden. There were frequent selection of Jews for concentration camp and at one point, Jurek and his grandparents were placed in a group designated for later consideration. The owner of the factory where Jurek’s parents worked used his connections to change their classification so that they were not deported. In March 1943, the family was forced to move into the Srodula ghetto. Alexander asked Polish friends to take in Jurek, but they refused. On August 1, 1943, during the liquidation of the ghetto, the family hid in an attic with 20-30 people. After a week, they were discovered and taken to the old leather factory in Sosnowiec and placed in a labor camp. It was filthy and disease ridden and guards continually removed those, including children, who were unfit for work; Jurek was often…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Stainless steel, expandable band wristwatch with a circular, silver colored metal case with a glass cover. The black face has gold painted Arabic numerals, diagonal minute and hour marks, and French text. Below the hands is a circular subdial with a single hand and gold painted diagonal lines and numbers to mark the seconds. There is a grooved knob on the right case side. The watch is attached to the band at 12 o’clock by 2 tabs folded over a curved metal strip between 2 protruding lug ends. The small, rectangular, flat bars that link to form the band are engraved with English text and numbers. The unattached band end has 2 tabs to fit over a missing metal bar at 6 o’clock.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: approximately 1943 October
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had some members with language: eng
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn522435
is or was included in: us-005578-irn522410
record resource extent: overall: Height: 7.250 inches (18.415 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Wrist watch purchased by Karola Ogurek in Budapest, Hungary, around October 1943 after fleeing Kamionka, Poland, with her 10 year old son, Jurek, husband Alexander, and her parents Helene and Izak Fiszer. She kept the watch with her, even during incarceration in Auschwitz. In March 1944, after Germany invaded Hungary, the family tried to go to Slovakia but were arrested and turned over to the Germans. They were sent to a Polish POW camp, but released by the commandant. They went back and forth between Slovakia and Hungary seeking refuge. In April 1944, they were arrested and sent to Sered labor camp, then to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The family was separated and Jurek was sent to the children's barracks. In early January, as the camp was evacuated, Jurek was rescued from the hospital by his uncle Stasiek who took him to Krakow. Stasiek was arrested and disappeared after being denounced as a collaborator by a Pole. In spring 1945, Jurek was placed in a Shomer Hatzair orphanage leaving Budapest for Germany, and along the way, was found by his mother and grandmother in Prague. They then went to Kavnitz displaced persons camp in Germany. Alexander and Izak had died during a forced death march from Auschwitz in January 1945. Karola married Chastiel Zimmerman, another survivor, in Esslingen am Neckar on December 6, 1947.
title: Wrist watch kept by a Hungarian Jewish concentration camp inmate