Pocketknife acquired by a prisoner in Buna concentration camp

Herbert Kalter was born in in 1926 in Leipzig, Germany. He was expelled from Germany to Zbaszyn, Poland, in 1938. He lived near the cemetery in Tarnów, Poland until he was sent to the Tarnów ghetto in 1943. He then was sent to the Szebnia labor camp and then to Płaszów concentration camp. In November 1943 he was sent with his father to Birkenau. His father died in the camp. Herbert was tattooed with the number 161306. On January 8, 1945, he was sent on a forced march to Buna, Buchenwald, Langenstein, and Zwieberge concentration camps. He was liberated with his brother by United States troops. He lived briefly in Paris after the war and, in 1946, emigrated to the US. He Is a specialist in sorting skins. Herbert first lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and then moved to Great Neck, N. Y. Herbert is married and has three children.

The pocketknife was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991 by Herbert Kalter.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Herbert Kalter. In memory of my parents, Oscar Kalter and Claire Kalter, and my brother Manfred Kalter.