us-005578-irn84730-irn106727
type: RecordSet
archival history: The armband was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014 by Richard Wojciech Hermanowski.
biographical history: Wojciech Hermanowski (later, Richard, b. 1929) was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Jan (1899-1967) and Stanislawa (nee Laszez,1901-1969) Hermanowski. He had one older brother, Andrzej (1924-1992). Wojciech’s father, Jan, worked for the city government as a director of supplies and ran a union for the transportation department. Jan had been in the military police during World War I (1914-1918), and as a result, was a strict disciplinarian. Although Wojciech’s parents identified as Catholic, they were not very religious. The family lived in a city apartment in a nice area of town, and the boys attended the local public school. They were not wealthy, but were able to hire household help, and spent summers at a villa in the countryside. Wojciech was at the countryside villa with his mother and brother when Germany invaded western Poland on September 1, 1939. They could hear bombs being dropped, and decided to return to the city to join Jan. The German army occupied Warsaw on September 27. German occupation authorities prohibited Poles from attending high school and pursuing higher education, so Wojciech began attending trade school to become a shoemaker’s apprentice, and continued his general education on the side. He also began taking classes in Latin, Polish, and English with a small group of other students. The classes had to move from home to home and were conducted in secret to avoid detection by the German occupation authorities. Andrzej also continued high school lessons with members of the Polish underground, which drew him into the ranks of the resistance fighters. Jan worked in the transportation department until the summer of 1942, when German authorities became suspicious of his union activities. His bosses were forced to fire him, but offered him a summertime position supervising the excavation of soft coal outside of the city. Jan readily accepted, and the family moved to the countryside for the summer. He was put in charge of 30 Jewish men brought from other t…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Armband made from a piece of rectangular, off-white, plain-weave cloth with fraying edges. Three lines of large, German text are printed in black across the center. Three, circular handstamps are layered over the text. In the center, in red, is a city seal featuring the coat of arms of Warsaw; a mermaid wielding a shield and sword. It is flanked by two dark blue Nazi seals featuring a Reichsadler; a spread eagle with its head turned to the left, holding a wreathed swastika. The armband is heavily stained and fraying at the edges. front, left and right sides, hand stamped, dark blue ink : * Kommando der Schutzpolizei * / Abschnitt / S[?] / im Warschau [Police Command / Section / [?] / in Warsaw] front, center, hand stamped, red ink : [illegible] / M. WARSZA[WA] [in Warsaw]
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1939 September 27-1944 August 07
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: pol
has or had subject: 819
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn106727
is or was included in: us-005578-irn84730
record resource extent: Height: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm) | Width: 15.250 inches (38.735 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Firefighter’s armband issued to Wojciech Hermanowski and used during the German occupation of Warsaw. The armband enabled Wojciech to safely go out on the streets, even after curfew, which was dangerous for most Polish residents. Wojciech was a Roman Catholic boy living with his parents, Jan and Stanislawa, and his older brother, Andrzej, in Warsaw, Poland, when the German army invaded on September 1, 1939. Wojciech was no longer allowed to go to school, so he began attending trade school and took general classes in secret. In February 1943, Andrzej was arrested as part of the underground resistance, and later transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. On August 1, 1944, the city’s underground resistance rose up against the German occupation forces. During the Warsaw Uprising, Wojciech and his parents were deported to a slave labor camp in Wriezen, Germany. Wojciech was then transferred to work at a dairy processing facility in nearby Eberswalde, and later reunited with his parents. From April 23 to May 3, 1945, they were sent on a forced march and then abandoned by the German guards. The family was found by Allied soldiers and were taken to a camp for displaced persons in Lübeck. They were reunited with Andrzej, who was severely ill from imprisonment in Auschwitz, Neungamme, Branschweig and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. The entire family was transferred to Sweden for recuperation in July 1945, where Wojciech changed his name to Richard. Richard’s parents and brother decided to return to Poland early in 1947. Richard immigrated to the United States in 1954, settling in New York City.
title: White cloth armband worn by a Roman Catholic Polish firefighter in Warsaw