us-005578-irn552725-irn561059
type: RecordSet
archival history: The patch was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Irene Frank.
biographical history: Irene Frank (nee Silberstein, b. 1927) was born in Berlin, Germany to Dr. Friedrich (Fritz) Silberstein (1890-1944) and Lotte Frank Silberstein (1903-1941). Friedrich fought for Germany in World War I, and received the Iron Cross first class for his service. Later, he inherited his father’s successful moving company. The family lived in an affluent neighborhood, and had many Gentile friends. They were not religious, and did not observe holidays or the Sabbath. Irene was an only child, and had a sheltered and pampered childhood. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. That same year, Irene began attending public school where she first experienced antisemitism. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed. The laws defined a person as Jewish if they had three or four Jewish grandparents, regardless of their religious practices, and mandated the total separation of Jews and non-Jews. No longer able to attend public school, Irene’s parents enrolled her in a private Jewish school. In the wake of the violent, antisemitic, pogroms known as Kristallnacht, Irene’s school closed, and her parents enrolled her in an American school for diplomats’ children. On September 3, 1939, France and England declared war on Germany, leading the school to close after Irene’s first year. The increasing restrictions, antisemitism, and violence led many people to leave Germany. Irene’s family was allowed to immigrate to the United States, but Friedrich’s reluctance to leave his mother alone in Germany caused him to delay their departure. Instead of escaping with his family, Friedrich’s moving company helped many others to move out of the country. Eventually, German authorities prohibited further emigration, forcing the family to remain in Berlin. In 1941, Friedrich’s moving business underwent Aryanization and was forcibly transferred to a non-Jew. Afterwards, he was forced into compulsory labor in a Bakelite factory. Irene’s mother, Lotte, was also forced into labor a…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Long, thin, rectangular, dark yellow cloth patch with slightly wavering edges sewn to the center of a rectangular patch of brown wool tweed and an olive green backing cloth beneath. The edges of the yellow patch are neatly hemmed with black thread, the stitches visible on the front as a line border. It is attached to the larger tweed patch with a loose, tan basting stitch around the edges. The thick tweed has cut, frayed edges and is several shades of brown with a few single strands of bright green and bright blue woven in. The lightweight olive cloth beneath is attached with tan thread and the unfinished edges are frayed and unravelling. The edges of the tweed patch and cloth backer are cut unevenly, with bumps and dips where the olive cloth shows beyond the tweed one. On the back center, a long, oval-shaped slit with frayed, unfinished edges and tapered ends is cut through both layers, so the yellow bar is visible. A shiny, silver-colored metal safety pin is attached to the back right end of the yellow patch. The patch is worn and frayed with several loose or missing threads throughout.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1944 December 10-1945 May 08
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had subject: 487
has or had subject: 0
has or had subject: 1417
has or had subject: 2
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn561059
is or was included in: us-005578-irn552725
record resource extent: overall: Height: 3.875 inches (9.843 cm) | Width: 7.750 inches (19.685 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Rectangular, yellow patch worn by Irene Silberstein while imprisoned at the forced labor camp Merzdorf from December 1944 to May 1945. Irene had to sew it to her outerwear, cutting out the brown tweed from behind. This served as a deterrent for escaping; if she tried to remove it from her clothes, the cut out would be visible and she would be easily recognizable. In the fall of 1942, Irene, her father, and her grandmother were deported from Berlin to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. On September 28, 1944, Irene’s father was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Irene was deported there the following week, but her father had already been killed in the gas chambers. In early December, she was forced on a transport to Merzdorf in Poland. She worked in a linen mill, processing, spinning, and weaving flax. Irene was able to wrap some of the flax around her legs for extra warmth and eat some of the seeds when no one was looking. At night, they had to unload coal from trains, resulting in 16-hour workdays. Merzdorf was liberated by the Soviet army on May 8, 1945 and Irene made her way back to Berlin. After learning her grandmother had survived, Irene traveled to Deggendorf displaced persons (DP) camp, arriving in March 1946, the day after her grandmother left for Sweden. After a week in Deggendorf, she registered for passage to America, and arrived in New York on May 24, 1946.
title: Yellow, rectangular patch on cloth backing worn by a German Jewish woman in a concentration camp