Red Cross issued dress belonging to Edit Kendall (nee Waldstein)
Object numberM2022/021
TitleRed Cross issued dress belonging to Edit Kendall (nee Waldstein)
DescriptionOrange and Blue patterned dress with short sleeves, given to Edit Kendall (nee Waldstein) at Bergen-Belsen DP camp by the Red Cross upon liberation.
Edit (Edzia/Esther) Waldstein was born 25 March 1923 in Kielce, Poland to Shlomo and Raisala Walstein (nee Weinstock). Her family moved to Katowice where they owned and operated a grocery store. She was one of seven children; 3 boys and 4 girls.
In November 1939, the business and other assets were seized and the family were forcibly removed to Sosnowiec ghetto. Edit worked as a seamstress, tailoring German army uniforms before she was deported to Bolkenhain, a subcamp of Gross-Rosen, in June 1942. Female inmates at Bolkenhain, were required to work in spinning and weaving mills for Kramsta-Methner and Prahne. Edit continued to receive correspondence from her family until her parents, her brothers and a sister were deported to Auschwitz in 1943. She was forced to work in three more labor camps; Waldenburg (December 1942-May 1943), Metzdorf (May 1943-August 1944) and finally Gruenberg (August 1944-January 1945). At Gruenberg, inmates would produce material used for uniforms, parachutes and blankets for the German military. Edit recalled her time consisted of beatings, long work hours and lack of food. A fellow inmate of the camp, Gerda Klein, stated ‘the food was almost a starvation diet’.
With the threat of the advancing Allied powers, camp guards forced inmates into a death march in January 1945. During the march, Edit managed to escape and evade soldiers for a period of time but was eventually caught and transported by train to Bergen Belsen. During her last months at Belsen, her health deteriorated and she became very ill, contracting both dysentery and typhus.
Bergen Belsen was liberated by British forces on 15 April 1945. Whilst hospitalised, Edit met British soldier, Henry James Kendall. Henry had arrived shortly after the liberating forces in April with the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). The pair had met whilst Henry was handing out chocolates to patients. Communicating in broken German, they fell in love. Henry recalled he fought the British army officials for permission to marry Edit and against their advice, the couple were married on 9 November 1945.
Unfortunately, the married couple were soon separated with Henry’s division returning to England. Whilst apart, Edit worked for the Red Cross as a translator for Miss Montgomery before she left to join him in early 1946. Although originally told her entire family had perished at Auschwitz, through the Red Cross, Edit also discovered two of her sisters, Regina and Anna, survived the war in labour camps.
In the early 1950s the couple immigrated to Australia, settling in Melbourne and had two children. Edit and Henry both passed away in 1999.
In 2022, Paula Kendall contacted the Museum regarding a liberation photograph shot by Alan Moore (M2006/045:002). She identified the central female figure looking at the camera to be her mother, Edit.
Edit (Edzia/Esther) Waldstein was born 25 March 1923 in Kielce, Poland to Shlomo and Raisala Walstein (nee Weinstock). Her family moved to Katowice where they owned and operated a grocery store. She was one of seven children; 3 boys and 4 girls.
In November 1939, the business and other assets were seized and the family were forcibly removed to Sosnowiec ghetto. Edit worked as a seamstress, tailoring German army uniforms before she was deported to Bolkenhain, a subcamp of Gross-Rosen, in June 1942. Female inmates at Bolkenhain, were required to work in spinning and weaving mills for Kramsta-Methner and Prahne. Edit continued to receive correspondence from her family until her parents, her brothers and a sister were deported to Auschwitz in 1943. She was forced to work in three more labor camps; Waldenburg (December 1942-May 1943), Metzdorf (May 1943-August 1944) and finally Gruenberg (August 1944-January 1945). At Gruenberg, inmates would produce material used for uniforms, parachutes and blankets for the German military. Edit recalled her time consisted of beatings, long work hours and lack of food. A fellow inmate of the camp, Gerda Klein, stated ‘the food was almost a starvation diet’.
With the threat of the advancing Allied powers, camp guards forced inmates into a death march in January 1945. During the march, Edit managed to escape and evade soldiers for a period of time but was eventually caught and transported by train to Bergen Belsen. During her last months at Belsen, her health deteriorated and she became very ill, contracting both dysentery and typhus.
Bergen Belsen was liberated by British forces on 15 April 1945. Whilst hospitalised, Edit met British soldier, Henry James Kendall. Henry had arrived shortly after the liberating forces in April with the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). The pair had met whilst Henry was handing out chocolates to patients. Communicating in broken German, they fell in love. Henry recalled he fought the British army officials for permission to marry Edit and against their advice, the couple were married on 9 November 1945.
Unfortunately, the married couple were soon separated with Henry’s division returning to England. Whilst apart, Edit worked for the Red Cross as a translator for Miss Montgomery before she left to join him in early 1946. Although originally told her entire family had perished at Auschwitz, through the Red Cross, Edit also discovered two of her sisters, Regina and Anna, survived the war in labour camps.
In the early 1950s the couple immigrated to Australia, settling in Melbourne and had two children. Edit and Henry both passed away in 1999.
In 2022, Paula Kendall contacted the Museum regarding a liberation photograph shot by Alan Moore (M2006/045:002). She identified the central female figure looking at the camera to be her mother, Edit.
Production date circa 1945
Production periodWorld War II (1939-1945)
SubjectBergen-Belsen concentration camp, forced labour, liberation, refugee camp marriages, immigration, Red Cross
Object namedresses
Materialfibres
Dimensions
- width: 700.00 mm
height: 760.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Paula Kendall