us-005578-irn71182-irn85405
type: RecordSet
archival history: The shoes were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Judith Ribnick, a friend of Bruno and Jessie Korn.
biographical history: Bruno Korn was born on October 2, 1911, in Hindenburg, Germany (Zabrze, Poland), to Simon and Jetka Jakobwitz Korn. His older brother, Rudolf, was born on March 23, 1909. Bruno’s father, Simon, was born on March 14, 1883, in Grabow, Germany, to Samoel and Rebeka Korn. Simon had four siblings: Dagobert, Julius, Berta, and Louisa. Bruno’s mother, Jetka, was born on February 5, 1875, in Kempen, Germany, to Samuel and Berta Jakobwitz. Jetka had four siblings: Paula, Adolf, Daniel, and Georg. Simon was a barber and owned a shop in Hindenburg. In 1919, the family moved to Walbrzych. They had to move again when the town became part of Poland. They settled in Breslau in 1919. Bruno attended Hebrew school and was a member of a Jewish social club. He spoke Yiddish and German. He finished school at fourteen and worked at a clothing factory as a cutter. The Nazi party was extremely popular in Breslau and by the late 1920s, it was one of its strongest centers of support in Germany. Bruno saw them march and make anti-Semitic speeches. Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933. On April 8, Bruno was arrested. He was taken to a street corner with several other men, where he had to stand with his arms up for several hours. When his arms got tired and he lowered them, he was beaten. The prisoners were marched to Nazi headquarters in Breslau. Bruno was given a hearing and accused of making faces at Nazis as they marched. He was taken to a room and forced to remove his clothes and lie on a table covered with a German flag where he was given thirty lashes. The detainees were then put on trucks and taken outside the city to work construction on a future concentration camp. On April 13, Bruno was released after appealing to Edmund Heines, a Nazi party leader who was visiting Breslau. Bruno attempted to get a visa to leave Germany but was unsuccessful. Circa 1935, Bruno’s brother, Rudolf, fled Germany for Czechoslovakia. In 1936, Bruno married his first cousin, Jetka Bloch, in her ho…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: a. Child’s supple, black leather left ankle boot with a rounded toe. The front opening has a scalloped edge flap for closure stitched to the left edge of the quarter. It has 5 finished buttonholes for the corresponding 5 black, halfball shank buttons on the right edge of the quarter. The vamp and quarter are stitched with a double row of black thread. The interior has a leather reinforcement strip around the ankle top, gray and white checkered cloth lining, and a light brown cardboard insole covered in white paper. The thin, smooth, dark brown leather sole has no heel and is attached directly to the shoe. The sole is especially worn along the outer right heel and the leather is worn through above on the boot. The boot is very worn overall. b. Child’s supple, black leather right ankle boot with a rounded toe. The front opening has a scalloped edge flap for closure stitched to the left edge of the quarter. It has 5 finished buttonholes for the corresponding 5 black, halfball shank buttons on the left edge of the quarter. The vamp and quarter are stitched with a double row of black thread. The interior has a leather reinforcement strip around the ankle top, gray and white checkered cloth lining, and a light brown cardboard insole covered in white paper. The thin, smooth, dark brown leather sole has no heel and is attached directly to the shoe. The sole is especially worn along the outer left heel and the leather is worn through above on the boot. The boot is very worn overall.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: approximately 1911-1915
has beginning date: 1939-01-01
has end date: 1939-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn85405
is or was included in: us-005578-irn71182
record resource extent: a: Height: 5.375 inches (13.653 cm) | Width: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Depth: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) b: Height: 5.500 inches (13.97 cm) | Width: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Depth: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Black leather baby shoes worn by Bruno Korn as a child in Hindenburg, Germany. His mother saved the shoes and gave them to Bruno, who took them with him when he left Germany in 1939. When Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, 22 year old Bruno, a cloth cutter, was living in Breslau with his parents, Simon and Jetka, and brother Rudolf. In April, Bruno was arrested and accused of making faces at Nazi officials. He was beaten, whipped, and forced to work construction on a future concentration camp for a week. During Kristallnacht on November 10, 1938, Bruno was arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Living conditions were bad and Bruno was beaten. He was released in January 1939 and returned to Breslau, but was told to leave Germany. Late that spring, Bruno and his wife Jetka traveled to Milan, Italy. Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, Bruno was arrested in Genoa and held in Campagna internment camp in southern Italy. He was released in May 1941 and joined his wife in Potenza, Italy. They were liberated by Canadian forces in September 1943. All their family members were killed during the Holocaust. The couple emigrated to the United States in 1946.
title: Black leather infant's ankle boots worn by a German Jewish child