Handmade white armband stamped for medical personnel worn by an inmate in Theresienstadt

Identifier
irn517789
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2004.721.5
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Czech
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 4.875 inches (12.383 cm)

Archival History

The armband was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection

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

Handmade white cloth armband presumably worn by an inmate at Theresienstadt ghetto/labor camp. It has a medical stamp and KZ. L Terezin handwritten on the center. The camp was run by the German SS but a Jewish Council of Elders organized municipal services, such as a health care system run by imprisoned doctors and nurses. Theresienstadt existed from November 24, 1941, until May 9, 1945, in the German controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the former Czechoslovakia. Terezin operated as a transit camp and and ghetto/labor camp for Jews deported from the Greater German Reich. It was expected that many would die due to the poor conditions. Approximately 140,000 Jews were transported to Terezin: 90,000 were deported to almost certain death in the east beginning in early 1942. Around 33,000 prisoners died in Theresienstadt. The International Red Cross took over administration of the camp on May 2, 1945. The German commandant and guards fled on May 5 and 6 as the Soviet Army neared the camp.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Rectangular, discolored and slightly stained, white cloth armband double stitched together at the short ends. It has a narrow red border made from a separate folded strip of red and white striped cloth sewn to the interior. Czech text is hand printed across the front center in purple ink. A faded, circular stamp with Czech text and a caduceus, a medical symbol of a snake wrapped around a pole, is stamped right of center. A section of the border and band are separated at the top.

Inscription: front, handwritten, purple ink : Kz. L. / TEREZIN front, around inner border of seal, stamped, green ink : SAMOSPRAVA BÝV. GHETA TEREZINA / ZDRAVOTNICTVI [LOCAL GOVERNMENT THERESIENSTADT / HEALTHCARE]

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.