us-005578-irn71186
date: before 1945 May
scope and content: Swiss wrist watch with a contemporary band taken by 21-year-old Abraham Lewent, possibly from the body of a dead SS guard, around April 1945. After the collapse of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in May 1943, Abraham and his father Raphael were deported to Majdanek concentration camp where his father was killed. After two months, Abraham was transferred to Skarżysko-Kamienna slave labor camp, then to Buchenwald concentration camp, a month later to a subcamp, Schlieben, then back to Buchenwald. He was transferred to Bisingen, a subcamp of Natzweiler-Struthof for about 8-10 weeks, and then sent to Allach, a Dachau subcamp. In early April 1945, as Allied forces neared the camp, the inmates were sent on a death march, until loaded on a train. On April 30, the train stopped near Starnberg. The guards ran away. The inmates, too ill and weak to stand, pushed each other out of the train, and they rolled down a hill to a road with American tanks. Abraham, very ill and weighing only 80 pounds, was taken to a Red Cross tent where he began his recuperation. He lost his entire, extended family during the Holocaust. Most of them were murdered in Treblinka. Abraham immigrated to the US in 1949.
title: Swiss watch taken from the body of an SS guard by a concentration camp inmate
has or had some members with language: fra
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn71186/alternateIDs/1
type: RecordSet
has record set type: Item
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Wrist watch with a circular domed crystal dial and a silver colored metal case with a grooved knob. The white face has gold Arabic numerals outlined in black, black hour and minute hands, and a dark red second hand. The case back has engraved text and numbers and 6 inset squares around the edge. Metal lugs at the top and bottom of the case attach the shiny, alligator patterned, brown leather wristband, a postwar replacement. The band has a leather loop, a gold colored buckle and tine, 6 punched holes, and a pointed end.
has or had holder: us-005578
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn71186/acquisitions/1
record resource extent: overall: Height: 9.375 inches (23.813 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm)
biographical history: Abraham Lewent was born on July 27, 1924, to Raphael Nachman and Hena Lea Rozbruch Lewent in Warsaw, Poland, where both families had lived for several generations. He had three younger sisters: Pola, b. March 1926, Chava, b. October 1928, and Chaia, b. June 1930. His father Raphael was born July 1902 to Mordechai and Esther Eibeshitz Lewent, and had four siblings: Shlomo, Moshe, Yaakov, and Chava. Mordechai owned a hardware store. Abraham’s mother Hena was born September 1904 to Elchonan and Deborah Rozbruch, and had a brother Shmuel. Elchonan owned a clothing factory and retail store, Firma Baranek. Raphael managed the factory and Shmuel the store. The family lived in a Jewish neighborhood, spoke Yiddish and Polish, and had a live-in maid. Abraham attended a Polish school and a Jewish cheder. The large, extended family was very close and, in 1938, Abraham’s paternal great-grandmother, Rivka Eibeshitz, moved in with them. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Warsaw was bombed and they had no water, heat, or food. For weeks, they ate only rice and sour pickles that Abraham stole from a destroyed pickle factory. German troops occupied the city on September 29. They distributed bread, but when Abraham and his sister stood in line, a Polish boy identified them as Jews and they were tossed out of line. A German soldier was killed and 53 Jewish men, women, and children were taken from a nearby building and shot in the streets. In October, the Germans confiscated the family factory. Abraham’s father and grandfather took fabric and hid it at home. Abraham’s great grandmother Rivka died circa November. On November 23, Jews were required to wear Star of David armbands. The ghetto was established on October 12, 1940, in the area where the Lewent family lived, and sealed in November. People taken away for work details were unrecognizable from beatings and malnutrition when they returned. Raphael bartered cloth and cigarettes made from stolen tobacco for bread. So many …
has or had some members with language: eng
archival history: The wrist watch was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Robert Lewent, the son of Abraham Lewent.
identifier: irn71186