Leather coin purse made by a concentration camp survivor in Landsberg DP camp
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Width: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm)
Creator(s)
- Esther Silver (Subject)
Biographical History
Esther Klajner was born in Bedzin, Poland, on September 20, 1924, to Mordechai and Rifka Klajner. Esther had three younger brothers: Szmul, born 1926, Alter, born 1931, and Herszel, born 1936. Esther was deported from Bedzin in March 1943 to the slave labor camp Ober Altstadt, a subcamp of Gross Rosen, where she worked in a flax spinning mill with more than 1000 other Jewish women. They were liberated on May 8, 1945. Esther went to a displaced persons camp in Landsberg, Germany. She learned that her parents and brothers were deported by the Germans in August 1943 to Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center and murdered. While in Landsberg, Esther met Norman Naftali Zylberminc and the couple married on March 19, 1946.
Archival History
The briefcase was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2015 by Esther Silver.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Esther Silver in memory of her husband Norman Naftali Silver
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
Leather coin purse created by Norman Naftali Zylberminc in the Landsberg displaced persons camp in Germany in 1946. In March 1942, eighteen year old Norman was deported from Bedzin, Poland, to Gleiwitz slave labor camp, a sub-camp of Auschwitz, prisoner number 187370. In November 1944, he was brought to the Auschwitz infirmary and diagnosed with pneumonia. Norman was liberated by the Soviet Army in January 1945. After the war ended in May 1945, Norman went to Landserg. He met Esther Klajner, a slave labor camp survivor from Bedzin. The couple married on March 19, 1946.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Small, oval dark red leather coin purse with a metal zipper along the upper edge.
Genre
- Object
- Dress Accessories