White armband with a blue embroidered Star of David worn in the Drzewica ghetto
Archival History
The armband was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 by Sven Sonnenberg.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Sven Sonnenberg
Scope and Content
Sven Sonnenberg was forced to wear this armband in the ghetto in Drzewica, Poland. Sven Sonnenberg was born in Grudziadz, Poland, on 17 Oct. 1931 to a Jewish father, Martin Sonnenberg, and a non-Jewish, German mother, Louise Theophil. In Nov. 1939, Sven, his parents, and his younger sister, Sylvia, were deported from Jablonowo, Poland, to the Płock ghetto. When the Płock ghetto was liquidated in 1941, the family was transferred to the Drzewica ghetto. During the liquidation of the Drzewica ghetto in 1942, Louise, Sven, and Sylvia escaped to a nearby forest where Martin was supposed to join them, but he never came. Louise found jobs as a cook first in a Polish conscript camp and then at the Helenówek orphanage. She died in 1949 of tuberculosis, and Sven and his sister were raised at the orphanage. Sven emigrated to the United States in 1968.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Armband made from white fabric with light blue embroidered edges and a Star of David in the center
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Drzewica.
Genre
- Identifying Artifacts
- Object