us-005578-irn616248-irn616259
type: RecordSet
archival history: The mica flake was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Sigrid Jean Ansbacher Strauss.
biographical history: Selma Ansbacher (nee Schlossberger, 1897-1956) was born in Wachbach, Germany to Bertha Schlossberger (nee Strauss, 1864-1936) and Sigmund Schlossberger (1863-1942, died from chronic illness). She had four siblings: Palma (1894-?), Josef (1899-?), Hedwig (later Holzer, 1903-1995), and Gisela (later Levi, later Feuchtwanger, 1906-2003). In 1921, at 24 years old, she married Ludwig Ansbacher (1888-1950), a veteran of the German army in World War I. Ludwig lost an eye during the war and was awarded the Iron Cross for his service. Initially he worked in the family business as a cattle dealer and later ran a fabric store. The couple had three children: Manfred (1922-2012), Heinz (1925-1942), and Sigrid (b. 1928). The family lived in Dinkelsbühl, Germany, in an apartment above Ludwig’s fabric store. Hitler came to power in 1933 and Ludwig was forced to close his store after the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1935. He then began to work as a traveling fabric salesman, riding his bike into the countryside to sell to farmers. The family attended an Orthodox synagogue, and had many good friends that were non-Jewish. However, those relationships changed as anti-Semitism increased. In 1936, Manfred was sent by his parents to an agricultural school near Hanover; by 1939, he immigrated to Australia, changed his surname to Anson, and eventually joined the Australian army. In 1937, anti-semitism in the small town had grown so much that the family decided to re-locate to Frankfurt, joining extended family. The Ansbacher family did not live in Frankfurt’s central Jewish neighborhood, and therefore avoided the vandalism and damaged stores of the Kristallnacht attacks on November 9-10, 1938. The following day, however, the SS arrested Ludwig, sending him and 10,000 other Jews to Buchenwald concentration camp, where they received extremely cruel treatment. Ludwig was sent home after 2-3 weeks and Selma attempted to obtain paperwork for the family to immigrate to America. The United States…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: A tissue-thin flake of mica that is translucent and iridescent with several gold colored flecks. The flake is a six sided irregular polygon. It is very fragile and flaking.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: after 1942 September 16-before 1945 May 09
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 2
has or had subject: 483
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn616259
is or was included in: us-005578-irn616248
record resource extent: overall: Height: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Thin flake of mica collected by Selma Ansbacher from the mica separation facility at Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp, in German-occupied Czechoslovakia, where she was forced to work between fall 1942 and May 1945. During four 8-hour shifts, 250 women worked at a time at long tables and used specially designed flat knives to split the stone into paper-thin sheets for various industrial applications. In September 1942, Selma, her husband, Ludwig, and her daughter, Sigrid, were deported from Frankfurt, Germany to Theresienstadt. Initially, Selma worked as a group leader in the kitchen, peeling potatoes for soups. She became known as the “Potato Queen,” letting the women go each day without checking their pockets, allowing them to take home potatoes to supplement the meager rations. She later worked in the mica-splitting facility, a job that contributed to the war effort, which she tried to use as leverage when Sigrid was assigned to a transport out of Theresienstadt. Selma wrote a letter to the Central Secretariat, begging him to keep Sigrid off the transport. Her plea went unheeded, and Sigrid was deported to a number of concentration camps, including Bergen-Belsen in Germany, where she was liberated by British forces on April 15, 1945. Selma and Ludwig remained at Theresienstadt until the Soviet Army liberated the camp on May 9, 1945. The couple moved back to Frankfurt, Germany before immigrating to the United States in July 1946, where Sigrid joined them the following December.
title: Flake of mica collected from Theresienstadt by a German Jewish factory worker