Ilona (Elena) Kellner Kalinova collection

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn594872
• English
• overall: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm)
• Updated 1 year ago

Prisoner patch marked "20409" issued to and worn by Ilona Kellner (later Elena Kalina) while a registered prisoner in Hessisch Lichtenau forced labor camp in Germany, from September 19, 1944 to April 25, 1945. During the 1930s, Ilona worked as a kindergarten teacher in Rožňava, and lived in Pelsöc, in what was Czechoslovakia until 1938, when it became part of Hungary (now Plešivec, Slovakia.) Her parents, Karoly and Jolan, and younger sister, Vera, also lived there. In 1938, Hungary’s fascist regime adopted anti-Semitic measures based upon the Nuremberg racial laws in Germany. In November 1...

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn594873
• English
• overall: | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm) | Diameter: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm)
• Updated 1 year ago

Metal pin with the name of the Hessisch Lichtenau factory acquired by Ilona Kellner (later Elena Kalina) while imprisoned in Hessisch Lichtenau forced labor camp in Germany, from August 2, 1944 to March 1945. She received the pin because she worked as a translator and messenger in the camp. During the 1930s, Ilona worked as a kindergarten teacher in Rožňava, and lived in Pelsöc, in what was Czechoslovakia until 1938, when it became part of Hungary (now Plešivec, Slovakia.) Her parents, Karoly and Jolan, and younger sister, Vera, also lived there. In 1938, Hungary’s fascist regime adopted an...

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn594874
• English
• overall: Height: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Width: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
• Updated 1 year ago

Heart shaped leather charm with a small, rectangular, leather wrapped piece of paper, thin leather, or a portion of a Torah page reminiscent of a Mezuzah. It was made by prisoners in Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, and worn on a camp issued wooden clog by Ilona Kellner (later Elena Kalina), while a prisoner at two camps between June 13, 1944 and April 25, 1945. During the 1930s, Ilona worked as a kindergarten teacher in Rožňava, and lived in Pelsöc, in what was Czechoslovakia until 1938, when it became part of Hungary (now Plešivec, Slovakia.) Her parents, Karoly and...

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• irn615603
• English
• 1929-2002
• folders oversize boxes 2 3
• Updated 1 year ago

The Ilona Kellner papers consist of hundreds of recipes written on the backs of unused forms from the Nazi labor camp at Hessisch Lichtenau by Ilona Kellner and dictated by her fellow women prisoners. Ilona worked as a translator and messenger at the labor camp and tidied the factory. She pilfered the blank pages from wastebaskets in the camp. The forms include munitions delivery and fulfillment receipts for bombs, mines, and mortars; access passes; discharge bills; shift inventories; and prisoner correspondence templates. Two pages appear to include letters from Ilona to her mother. The co...