us-005578-irn85553-irn1030
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Blue and gray vertically striped heavyweight cloth, knee-length, A-line skirt with a hidden side closure on the left with 4 black painted bronze colored metal snaps and a silver colored metal hook and eye clasp. A striped cloth patch pocket is hand sewn on both sides of the front center seam with blue thread. The left pocket is more brightly colored than the right. The interior waistband has an added strip of striped cloth hand sewn with black thread. The seams are machine finished. It seems to have several alterations: it has back darts and has been taken in at the back, waist, and both sides. The skirt has been shortened by an additional 1 inch, handstitched with gray thread. There is a hole on the back right and the cloth is worn and discolored.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1944 October-1945 May
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
history: The concentration camp uniform skirt was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by Charles and Hana Bruml.
history: Hana Müller (Mueller; later Bruml) was born May 30, 1922, to Richard and Hedvika Zappner Müller in Prague, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic). Her father was born in 1885 in Chocen, Czech Republic, Austro-Hungary, to Emanuel and Antonia Müller. Richard was a tinsmith and owned a workshop. Her mother was born April 17, 1891, in Prague, to Isidor and Marie Heller Zappner, and had one sister, Gizela, born 1888. Hana’s maternal grandparents, Isidor and Marie (b.1856), lived with her family in the Jewish quarter; Isador died in 1925. The family was prosperous and employed a maid. They spoke Czech and German. Hana attended a Zionist school, then a Czech school. She attended business school for a year and worked as a typist. From 1933, when the Nazi regime came to power in Germany, Prague saw a large influx of Jews fleeing persecution. In September 1938, Germany annexed the Sudetenland border region. In March 1939, Germany annexed the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, which included Prague, which were governed by a Reich Protector. Other regions were absorbed by German allies and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Jews lost their jobs and their property. Hana’s father’s workshop was confiscated. He could not find work and it was difficult to get enough food. Hana tried to leave, but could not get a US visa or German passport. On September 1, Germany invaded neighboring Poland. Jewish men could be conscripted for forced labor at any time. On November 14, 1939, Hana married Rudolf Schiff, b.1919, at City Hall. They got their own room when one of the families boarded at Rudolf’s parent's home was relocated. Hana began working for the Palestine Office, which facilitated emigration to Mandate Palestine. In September 1941, Heydrich, SS Chief of RSHA, became Reich Protector, and prioritized the expulsion of Jews to concentration camps. Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David badge at all times to make them easy to identify. Transports were announced daily in the papers.…
identifier: irn1030
is or was included in: us-005578-irn85553
record resource extent: overall: Height: 21.375 inches (54.293 cm) | Width: 13.375 inches (33.973 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Blue and gray striped winter issue uniform skirt issued to Hana Bruml at Auschwitz concentration camp in October 1944. Hana shortened the skirt and made two pockets with the extra fabric. She wore it until liberated from Kudowa-Sackisch slave labor camp in May 1945. Hana was from Prague which, in March 1939, was annexed by Nazi Germany. Heydrich, SS Chief of RSHA, became Reich Protector in September 1941 and ordered the construction of a ghetto-labor camp in Terezin and transports of Jewish prisoners began arriving on November 24, 1941. On July 20, 1942, Hana’s parents Hedvika and Richard Mueller and her grandmother Marie Zappner were sent to the camp. On August 10, 1942, Hana and her husband Rudolf Schiff were transported. That October, Hana's parents were deported to Treblinka killing center. In December 1943, Hana's husband, with his parents and brother, was sent to Auschwitz and killed. On October 1, 1944, Hana was deported to Auschwitz, and then sent to Kudowa-Sackisch where she made airplane parts. She was liberated on May 5, 1945. Karel Bruml, 29, was sent to Terezin in December 1941 with his parents, Jindrich and Irma, sister Anna, and brother Otto and his wife. On January 11, 1942, Karel volunteered to be deported with his parents and sister. They were sent to Auschwitz; his family was killed and Karel was tattooed and sent to Auschwitz III-Monowitz (Buna). In January 1945, Karel was sent to Gleiwitz, Dora-Mittelbau, and Bergen-Belsen where he was liberated on April 15. Hana and Karel met in postwar Prague while searching for news of their families. They found few survivors. Karel and Hana left for the United States in 1946, where they married.
title: Concentration camp uniform skirt worn by a Czech Jewish inmate