us-005578-irn597394-irn615684
scope and content: Small, metal identification tag that belonged to Frank (born Frantisek) Sim, who was imprisoned with his parents in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia between June 1942 and September 1944. It is engraved with his name, birth date, and birthplace, with a lock of hair looped around the string. Prior to the German occupation in 1939, Frank’s sister, Helen, decided to immigrate to England. In June 1942, Frank and his parents, Rudolf and Fredericka, were forcibly transported from Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, to Theresienstadt. There, Frank was assigned to a work group in the transport department, shoveling coal and unloading supplies that came to the ghetto. On September 28, 1944, Frank was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in German-occupied Poland. Upon arrival, Frank was assigned to a work group and sent to the Hugo Schneider AG (HASAG) armaments factory at Meuselwitz, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp system in Germany. In April 1945, American troops were approaching and the Germans liquidated the camp. Frank escaped during a forced march and made his way to Kraslice, Czechoslovakia, where a Czech family took him in for four days and gave him civilian clothes. He continued traveling to Plzeň, Czechoslovakia, and then to Prague, before making his way back to Theresienstadt. There, Frank learned his parents had been put on a transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau one month after him, and they were killed. After liberation, Frank eventually settled in Brno, Czechoslovakia, where he studied chemical engineering and met his wife, a fellow survivor, Edith.
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular, gold-colored metal pendant that comes to a point at the top. Four lines of text and numbers are engraved on the front, and the faint remnant of a number and a series of lines are engraved on the back. The pendant has a hole at the center of the point. A dark brown length of cord approximately 12” in length runs through the hole and is tied to form a knot. A circular lock of dark brown human hair and a small silver metal loop hang from the cord. The cord is frayed, and coming unraveled where it has rubbed against the hole in the pendant. front, engraved : FRANZ SIM / 20.11.1920 / IN / MÄHR.OSTRAU back, engraved : 10(?)4
date: before 1944 September 28
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/556
record resource extent: overall: Height: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm)
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/517
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/204
is or was included in: us-005578-irn597394
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/132
archival history: The pendant was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Susan Kajuch and Pavla Sim, the daughters of Frank and Edith Sim.
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn597394-irn615684/acquisitions/1
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn597394-irn615684/alternateIDs/1
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
identifier: irn615684
has record set type: Item
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/819
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/0
biographical history: Frank (born Frantisek) Sim (1920-2005) was born to Rudolf (1877-1944) and Fredericka (nee Berger, 1897-1944) Sim in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. He had one sister, Helen (later Krzak, 1913-?), and a brother, Otto, who died as a child during World War I. Rudolf worked as an attorney while Fredericka stayed at home. Ostrava was an industrial town of 250,000, with a large Jewish minority population. While Fredericka went to synagogue regularly, Rudolf was not religious at all, and they only celebrated the major holidays. The family spoke Czech at home, and most of Frank’s friends were not Jewish. He even participated in a scouting program. Frank attended the public primary school and then gymnasium, where he had to study Latin and Greek, as he wanted to be a doctor. He also had studied German and French, and had obligatory religious education. In the fall of 1938, under the terms of the Munich Pact, Germany annexed the Sudetenland, a border region of Czechoslovakia. By May of 1939, Germany, Hungary, and Poland had partitioned Czechoslovakia and the nation no longer existed. Before the occupation, Frank and his family had never experienced any anti-Semitism, but had learned about the violence against Jews from German Jews who were seeking asylum. Frank’s sister decided to immigrate to England, and in 1939, the German army occupied Ostrava and burned the synagogues down. The family fled the city for Lipník, his mother’s hometown. There, the Jews had to live in one designated street, with two families to an apartment. In Lipník, Frank received training to work as an auto mechanic. In June 1942, Frank and his parents were ordered to the nearby city of Olomouc, and forcibly placed on transport AAG to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in the northern region of German-occupied Czechoslovakia. There, he was assigned to a work group in the transport department, shoveling coal and unloading supplies that came to the ghetto. Although he had to live separately from his parents, Frank o…
has or had holder: us-005578
type: RecordSet
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/2
title: Metal identification pendant belonging to a Czech Jewish ghetto-labor camp inmate