Gift of Elizabeth Kroo Teitelbaum

Id no. 56.95, Textile, Poland: Auschwitz, German

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland

Subject(s):  Camps-death

This black armband was presented to Elizabeth Kroó (b. 1921, later, Teitelbaum) by a Slovak Block Alteste (Head of Barracks often known as a “Kapo”) in Auschwitz. Elizabeth used the armband to indicate that she was authorized to take groups of women to the toilet barrack. Elizabeth was originally from Munkacs, in what was formerly Czechoslovakia. With the Hungarian annexation, Elizabeth began to fear for her family. Then, with the German occupation of Hungary in 1944, her entire family was moved into a ghetto and eventually they were deported to Auschwitz. There, Elizabeth was immediately separated from her loved ones, and soon was transferred to other concentration camps, including Ravensbrueck and then Lippstadt. Elizabeth survived the war, married, and immigrated to Brooklyn, New York.

Discover more about this artifact and other stories from the Museum’s collection in, “To Life: 36 Stories of Memory and Hope” http://www.pickmanmuseumshop.com/tolif36storo.html.