us-005578-irn522416-irn523813
type: RecordSet
archival history: The medical tool pouch and its contents were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Alice Fink, the wife of John Fink.
biographical history: Alice Redlich was born August 12, 1920, in Berlin, Germany, to Georg and Ella Messer Redlich. Georg, born on August 8, 1884, was a salesman and World War I veteran from Schlabendorf, Germany. Ella was born on April 9, 1893, in Berlin. Alice's brother Heinz Alfred was born on June 9, 1923. The family considered themselves Germans who were Jewish. They celebrated high holidays, irregularly attended synagogue, and did not keep a kosher house. The children went to public schools. Alice attended Hebrew school three times per week and also belonged to a German Jewish youth group that was more social than religious. In 1932, Georg became formally affiliated with the Jewish Community, reporting official Jewish deaths to the religious and civil authorities. In 1932, Georg became formally affiliated with the Jewish Community, reporting official Jewish deaths to the religious and civil authorities. Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor on January 30, 1933, led to increasingly severe restrictions on Jews. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws defined Jews by race and mandated the total separation of Aryans and non-Aryans. Due to the high number of Jewish students in her school, Alice did not immediately feel the increasing anti-Semitism. However, in response to the encroaching restrictions, her father removed her from school in 1935. She celebrated her Bat Mitzvah in 1936. Her only experience of persecution was that by 1937, she was not allowed to attend German cultural events. In 1937, Alice enrolled in a vocational school and trained as an infant nurse in a children’s home. She completed her training in 1938, and with the assistance of a cousin living in England, was accepted into the nursing program at Miller General Hospital, a private hospital in Southeast London. In the months prior to her departure, she learned English and worked for a family taking care of their infant son. On November 11, 1938, Alice left Germany from Bremerhaven on a refugee ship and arrived in London on November 14. …
physical characteristics and technical requirements: a. Rectangular, gray/green cloth pouch with white cloth edging and ribbon closures. The interior has adjustable ribbons threaded through loops to hold instruments in place. b. Stainless steel medical instrument with a long shaft bent in a U shape with a flat spatulated end split in the center. c. Stainless steel forceps d. Stainless steel medical scissors e. Stainless steel medical clamp f. Stainless steel forceps g. Stainless steel medical hook with a long flattened handle with a rounded hook on the end. h-j. 3 slender glass bottles capped with black lids sealed by a white plastic covering with adhered paper labels with black ink text and insignia:"Vacuum steril-katgut 2,5 m No. 2 (stamped over with a purple 3) Hamburger Katgutfabrik G.m.B.H. Hamburg 39, Bussestr. 11" Bottles contain long strands in an unknown liquid. Two of the bottle seals are broken.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1949 August 26
has beginning date: 1938-01-01
has end date: 1949-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn523813
is or was included in: us-005578-irn522416
record resource extent: a: Height: 17.750 inches (45.085 cm) | Width: 12.500 inches (31.75 cm) b: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 5.625 inches (14.288 cm) c: Height: 5.635 inches (14.313 cm) | Width: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) d: Height: 4.750 inches (12.065 cm) | Width: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) e: Height: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm) | Width: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) g: Height: 5.500 inches (13.97 cm) | Width: 2.875 inches (7.303 cm) h: Height: 6.250 inches (15.875 cm) | Width: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm) i: Height: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Width: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Medical kit and contents used by Alice Redlich while she served as a nurse at the displaced persons camp established in the former concentration camp in Germany after the war. The British Army liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945, and it then became a DP camp. Alice and her family were German Jews living in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi dictatorship. In 1938, 18 year old Alice left for England to continue her nurse's training. She volunteered with the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad and, in September 1946, she left for the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp to care for children and young women. Her mother, father, brother, and grandmother were all murdered in Auschwitz. She met and married Hans Finke, a fellow German Jewish relief worker, at the camp in 1948. Hans had been a prisoner of Monowitz, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Flossenberg, and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. His parents were murdered in Auschwitz and his sister survived in hiding.
title: Pouch and medical instruments used by a German Jewish refugee nurse and postwar aid worker