Concentration camp uniform pants worn by a Romanian Jewish inmate at Buchenwald

Elisabet Farkas (b.1916, later Goldstein) was born in Marosludas, Romania. Her father Henrik Farkas (1879-1944) and mother Eszther Wiegner Farkas (1889-1944) were both born in Szaszregen, Romania. Elisabet had two brothers Eugen (b.1912) and Josef (b.1913) and she was married to Isidor Goldstein. Elisabet and her family lived in Cluj, Romania where Henrik worked as a bookkeeper. Cluj had a large and flourishing Jewish community that played a significant part in the economic, social, and cultural life of the city. In August 1940, as part of the second Vienna Award, Germany forced Romania to cede northern Transylvania, which included Cluj, to Hungary. After the Hungarian annexation, Jews suffered economically and physically. In 1942, many men of military age in Cluj were conscripted for forced labor and sent to the Eastern front of the Nazi-occupied area of the Soviet Union, where most perished. Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944. In May, the 18,000 remaining local Jews in and around Cluj, including Elisabet and her family, were sent to the Kolozsvár ghetto by local authorities and police working in cooperation with the Germans. The conditions in the makeshift ghetto were appalling. It was on the grounds of a local brickyard and consisted mostly of shacks used for drying bricks and had minimal facilities. Between May 25 and June 9, 1944, Kolozsvár Ghetto was liquidated. Six transports deported the Jewish prisoners, including Elisabet, her parents, and brothers, from the ghetto to Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Her parents were taken to Auschwitz killing center and murdered shortly after arrival. In June, Eugen and Josef were both transported to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Her husband Isidor was also sent to Buchenwald. In September, Elisabet and 300 other mostly Hungarian women and children were selected by a Philips-Valvo Factory representative to perform forced labor at a plant in Weisswasser, a subcamp of Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Germany, making light globes and filaments. Upon arrival, she was issued number 26918. After heavy bombardment by the Soviet Army in February 1945, the camp was evacuated and the women were taken in wagons to Horneburg, a subcamp of Neuengamme concentration camp in Lower Saxony, Germany, to work in another Philips factory. Elisabet was given the number 11361 at Horneburg. She also worked at another Neuengamme satellite camp for women in Fallersleben, producing armaments at a Volkswagen plant. On April 8, 1945, as the Soviet Army moved closer, the Neuengamme camps were evacuated and Elisabet was sent to Salzwedel satellite camp. The camp was liberated on April 14 by the 84th Infantry Division of the US Army. Before returning to Cluj, Elisabet traveled to Buchenwald and was reunited with her brother Eugen. Her brother Josef had already been released. It is likely her husband, Isidor, perished at Buchenwald.

The uniform pants were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 by Elisabet Goldstein, the wife of Isidor Goldstein.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Elisabet Goldstein