us-005578-irn61205-irn1090
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1986-01-01
identifier: irn1090
has or had holder: us-005578
type: RecordSet
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1987-12-31
archival history: The shoehorn was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by the Muzeum Okręgowe w Koninie.
title: Rusted, bent metal shoehorn recovered from Chelmno killing center
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-terms/525
date: before 1942 September
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn61205-irn1090/acquisitions/1
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn61205-irn1090/alternateIDs/1
record resource extent: overall: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm)
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Flat, oblong piece of corroded metal that has bent back upon itself. The top end is rounded with a circle cutout, forming the handle. The handle tapers slightly and then flares out to a rounded bottom end. The shoehorn is folded over near the middle and is entirely covered in rust, obscuring the original surface.
scope and content: Metal shoehorn, likely recovered from a temporary pit furnace at Chelmno killing center in German-occupied Poland, during an archaeological excavation in 1986 and 1987. Killing operations at Chelmno commenced on December 8, 1941. Prisoners were taken to a camp at a manor house (Schlosslager) in the village to undress and relinquish their valuables. They were then loaded into a gas van where they were killed. The van was then driven 2.5 miles northwest of the village to a camp in the Rzuchowski forest (Waldlager), where the bodies were dumped into mass graves. The large number of corpses created a threat of disease and discovery by Allied forces, so the bodies were exhumed and burned in seven primitive pit furnaces. In the fall of 1942, the furnaces were replaced with two open-air crematoria consisting of concrete foundations topped by a grate of train rails. In March 1943, transports to Chelmno stopped, and the manor house and open-air crematoria in the forest were demolished. Deportations to Chelmno resumed from June to July 1944, to facilitate the liquidation of the Łódź ghetto. In this second phase, the entire killing process was carried out in the forest camp (Waldlager), necessitating the construction of new buildings. The Germans abandoned the camp on January 17, 1945, having killed over 172,000 people. The excavations of 1986-87, and later work have identified additional furnaces, crematoria, and mass graves at the site.
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/2029
is or was included in: us-005578-irn61205
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has record set type: Item