us-005578-irn593679-irn597313
type: RecordSet
archival history: The commemorative pendant was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Margret Hantman.
biographical history: Margret (Miriam) Hantman (née Simon) (b. 1926) was born in Berlin, Germany, to Willy Simon (1896-1944) and Ella Anita Stahl Simon (1901-1944). She had one younger sister, Eva (1928-1942). Her father ran a grocery store outside Berlin and made a comfortable living. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and anti-Jewish decrees were passed that restricted every aspect of Jewish life. In 1935, her father’s store was taken from him by authorities after the Nuremberg Laws were passed. The family moved to Bernau, a small town north of Berlin. Her father worked as a salesman for a margarine company, but then was forced to do hard labor carrying stones. After a couple of years, the Simon family moved back to Berlin where Margret attended public school until she was forced, by law, to attend a Temple school for Jewish children only. Her family was not religious, but Margret became very interested in the Zionist movement and went away to a Hachshara in order to prepare to make aliyah to Palestine. After returning to Berlin, Margret worked in a cable factory for six months. Her sister, Eva attended school and worked nights in a Jewish foundling home. In October 1942, the Gestapo, seeking retribution against members of the Jewish community who had gone underground, deported a group to Rīga, Latvia. Eva, who was working for the Jewish community, was taken away on this transport at the age of 15. In December, Margret and her parents received a transport summons as well. Her father had received the Iron Cross in WWI and her grandmother was not Jewish, so they were sent to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in Czechsoslovakia. They were forced to live separately, but could see each other. Margret worked in the stabsgarten [staff garden] where they grew vegetables enabling her to sneak food to her family. In Theresienstadt, she met Lucy Steinhagen (née Fried), who became a lifelong friend. Margret’s father worked treating people who had lice and her mot…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Small, rectangular silver metal pendant with diagonally notched corners. Three, recessed, vertical, blue enamel stripes run the length of the pendant. Superimposed over the stripes in the center is a recessed, inverted, red enamel triangle with a silver rectangular bar below it. Along the top edge are 2 letters embossed in the 1st and 3rd stripes and centered between them, in the 2nd stripe, is a circular hole has been drilled through the metal. The back of the pendant has a dark circular impression with a raised metal rectangle that is indicative of a previous attachment, perhaps a pin back (see 2005.579.17).
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: after 1945 May
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn597313
is or was included in: us-005578-irn593679
record resource extent: overall: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Small silver and enamel commemorative concentration camp pendant worn postwar by Margret Simon Hantman. The pendant has an inverted red triangle on a blue and gray striped field representing concentration camp uniforms. It is likely that Margret obtained this while at Deggendorf displaced persons (DP) camp. Prior to the war, Margret and her family lived in Berlin, Germany, where her father owned a grocery store. In 1935, his store was taken by the authorities after the Nuremberg Laws were passed and he was forced to work as a laborer on the outskirts of the city. In October 1942, her sister Eva was sent on a transport to Rīga, Latvia, where she was murdered. In December, Margret and her parents were sent to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in Czechoslovakia. In September 1944, Margret’s father was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in German occupied Poland, where he was murdered. The following month she and her mother were sent there as well. Margret’s mother was killed soon after they arrived. After a few weeks, Margret was sent to Sackisch‐Kudowa labor camp to work in an airplane factory. She and the other prisoners were freed in May 1945, and Margret made her way to Deggendorf DP camp that summer. She met her first husband Felix Huber at Deggendorf, and in 1946 they both immigrated to the United States.
title: Commemorative concentration camp pendant owned by a German Jewish woman