The sewing machine was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990.
a. Black painted, cast iron treadle powered sewing machine designed to be stored in a treadle table (b). It has a vertical body on the right with a horizontal arm that extends to the left over a flat rectangular base plate. On top of the arm is a spool pin and at the left end is a rectangular sewing head with a face plate, tension levers, and thread guides. On top of the head are 2 tension rods; on the bottom, a needle and an L shaped presser foot. On the base, below the needle are 2 slotted, sliding plates. Attached to the right end of the machine are a spoked wheel and pulley disc, with an adjustment lever and bobbin winder on the front. Above the pulley is a curved belt guide. On the base underside, below the needle, is a shuttle mount with a bobbin case. There are 2 mounting lugs on the back to attach the machine to a table. The machine has painted gold and bronze floral designs overall. The user controls the motion and speed of the machine by pressing down on the pivoting treadle connected to the sewing machine table (b). This turns a large spoked wheel on the table, which is connected to a smaller spoked wheel and pulley on the machine by the treadle belt. The belt turns the pulley and shifts the interior mechanism, which pushes the needle up and down, pulling 2 threads, top and bottom, to create a lockstitch. b. Brown, wooden treadle table with black painted, metal, lattice work legs made to store a sewing machine (a). An H cross brace connects the legs. A large spoked wheel is attached to the right side of the brace and a rectangular treadle is attached near the bottom. The table has a flat, rectangular top with a beveled edge and a box shaped body with a sloped bottom. There are 5 rectangular drawers beneath: an open, rectangular space for a shallow drawer, now missing, flanked by 2 sets of stacked rectangular drawers with locks and wooden pulls. Two flat, hinged wooden panels are attached to the top of the table over the box. There are 2 thick, mounting posts for the machine on the inner edge of the top panel. The treadle belt is still attached.
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a: Height: 11.250 inches (28.575 cm) | Width: 16.125 inches (40.958 cm) | Depth: 7.250 inches (18.415 cm) b: Height: 30.750 inches (78.105 cm) | Width: 35.250 inches (89.535 cm) | Depth: 18.500 inches (46.99 cm)
Treadle sewing machines like this Russian model with Singer sewing table were used by Jewish forced laborers in Łódź Ghetto in German occupied Poland from May 1940 to summer 1944. These mass produced models were inexpensive and very durable. Łódź was occupied by Germany a week after the September 1939 invasion of Poland. It was renamed Litzmannstadt and, in February 1940, the Jewish population, about 160,000 people, was confined to a small sealed off ghetto. All residents had to work and many were forced laborers in ghetto factories. Eventually, nearly 100 factories were in operation. The major ones produced textiles, including uniforms for the German Army. Due to the severe overcrowding and scarce food, disease and starvation were common. The Judenrat [Jewish Council] administered the ghetto for the Germans. Judenrat chairman Mordechai Rumkowski thought hard work and high outputs would preserve the ghetto. But in January 1942, mass deportations to Chelmno killing center began; half the residents were murdered by the end of the year. In summer 1944, Łódź, the last ghetto in Poland, was destroyed and the remaining Jews were sent to Chelmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau killing centers.
Soviet treadle sewing machine with Singer storage table of the type used in Łódź Ghetto