us-005578-irn524523-irn531180
scope and content: White cloth badge with his prisoner number 82609 worn by Hermann Naidorf, who was a prisoner in Kaiserwald, Stuffhof, Buchenwald, and Bochum concentration camps from November 1943 until liberated on a death march on April 13, 1945. Hermann, 13, and his parents Frieda and Simon lived in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. In September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, Simon, who was Polish, was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In March 1941, they received an urn with his father's ashes. In February 1942, Hermann and Frieda were deported to Riga ghetto in German occupied Latvia. In late 1943, they were sent to Kaiserwald concentration camp and separated. In August 1944, Hermann was transferred to Stuffhof, and then to Buchenwald and Bochum in Germany. The camp was evacuated in April 1945 as Allied forces closed in. Hermann escaped and hid during a death march. On April 13, he was liberated by African American troops. Hermann searched for family, but found no survivors. His mother had been shot in Kaiserwald on July 28, 1944. Hermann found an uncle who had immigrated to Colombia before the war and went there in 1948.
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has record set type: Item
date: approximately 1942-1945 May
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn524523-irn531180/acquisitions/1
archival history: The badge was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Herman Neudorf.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
record resource extent: overall: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 4.375 inches (11.113 cm)
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/483
is or was included in: us-005578-irn524523
has or had holder: us-005578
biographical history: Hermann David Naidorf was born in Gelsenkirchen (Horst-Emscher) in Westphalia, Germany, on June 3, 1925, the only child of Simon Arie and Frieda Grunewald Naidorf. His father, born February 7, 1899, in Łódź, Poland, Imperial Russia, immigrated to Germany as a young man. His mother was born on April 20, 1894, in Herford, also in Westphalia, where her family had lived for generations. Her brother Siegfried was killed in action during World War I (1914-1918.) Simon and Frieda owned a clothing business. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power and passed laws to persecute the Jewish population. Around 1937, the Germans began to deport Jews of Polish descent back to Poland. At first they were arresting only men, so Hermann’s father left on October 28, 1938, for Dusseldorf to get papers. That day, the Gestapo took Hermann out of school and deported him and his mother to Poland. The Polish authorities did not want the refugees, who lived in makeshift camps. Hermann and Frida were near Zybąszyń and contacted relatives, who sent them money for train tickets to Łódź. Soon after, Hermann’s paternal grandmother in Łódź died of natural causes. His father Simon came to join them. They sought visas for the United States, but the small Polish quota offered no chance to leave until 1943-44. Around February 1939, Simon and Frieda were permitted to return to Germany to close out their store, although there was not much left as it had been vandalized during Kristallnacht in November 1938. Hermann remained with his aunt in Łódź. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Simon was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. German troops enter Łódź and Hermann saw Jews beaten, loaded on trucks, and taken away. Soon, the Germans interned the Jews in a ghetto. On June 24, 1940, Hermann escaped to relatives in Konski. His mother got permission for his return and he went back to Gelsenkirchen and they lived in Essen. They got monthly cards from Simon. Frieda was to…
identifier: irn531180
title: White patch with prisoner number 82609 worn by German Jewish inmate
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular, frayed, white and gray herringbone cloth patch with the prisoner number 82609 stamped on the front in black ink.
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn524523-irn531180/alternateIDs/1
type: RecordSet