Pink embroidered dress made from flour sacks in Athens after liberation
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 38.880 inches (98.755 cm) | Width: 31.500 inches (80.01 cm)
Creator(s)
- Dora Saltiel (Subject)
Biographical History
Dora Levy was born on January 3, 1928, to Sarina (Perahia) and Salomon Izhak Levy. She was raised in Salonika (Thessalonikē), Greece. In 1942, the Levy family was forced to relocate to one of the ghettos that the Germans had established in Salonika. After being warned of the impending deportations to Auschwitz, the Levys went into hiding in Athens in 1943. They remained there until 1946 when they were finally able to return to Salonika. In 1947, Dora married Salomon Saltiel, a childhood friend who had been a prisoner of war during World War II. The couple emigrated to the United States in 1955.
Archival History
The dress was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Dora Levy Saltiel.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Dora Saltiel
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Sabbath dress made by Dora Levy and her mother from flour sacks in wartime Athens, Greece. Sarina, Dora's mother, dyed the cloth red; Dora Levy cut the fabric and sewed a shirt for her mother and a dress for herself. Dora Levy also embroidered the design on the dress pockets. Because of the shortage of clothing during the civil war in Greece, flour sacks were the only available source of fabric.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Pink short-sleeved, collared bodice attached to knee-length pink skirt; three button holes on bodice at center; two pockets of blue embroidered floral design sewn to bodice near collar; two pockets of blue embroidered floral design sewn to skirt near waist; two pleats sewn into skirt at front center
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Greece--Personal narratives.
- Greece--History--Civil War, 1944-1949.
Genre
- Clothing and Dress
- Object