Object numberM1996/015:002
DescriptionComb, made from scrap metal in a concentration/labour camp and given to Dr Stanislaw Szarota (Sharota) as a thanks for medical assistance.
Stanislaw Sharota (born Strasser) was born in Rzeszow on 21 February 1911. His father Fryderyk was a doctor; he died in 1920. His mother Dorota was killed in 1942 when Rzeszow ghetto was liquidated. His sister Irena Czarniecka was also murdered during the liquidation of the ghetto when she refused to be parted from her child. Stanislaw studied medicine at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, graduating in 1939. On 2 April 1939 he married Henryka Feiner; she was a nurse.
In August 1939, he was enlisted into the reserve army in Przemysl. Once war broke out, he volunteered in a hospital in Stanislawowie. When the town was taken over by the Russian army, the staff were detained as POWs but kept working in the hospital. After 18 months when enough Russian doctors had arrived, Stanislaw was released and he returned to Lvov. After some time, he approached the Office of Health who assigned him to the town of Kracowiec, and then sent to Wielkie Oczy, a village with a population of about 1100, of which about 700 were Jewish.
Most of the Jews in the village were deported in June 1942. Stanislaw managed to practiced there as a doctor until September, then he and his wife left for Yaroslavl. They survived various labour camps together: first in Biezanow, then Plaszow, then Skarzysko and finally in Czestochowa, worked together as a medical team.
After the war, Stanislaw found a position in town on the Czech border of Poland, where their son Dorian was born. Needing a more Polish name, he changed it to Szarota. He adopted this name, later using it as a pen name when he wrote poetry, and kept the name in Australia too, but changed the ‘z’ for an ‘h’ to make it more pronounceable.
Stanislaw died in 1972. The comb was always kept in his bedside drawer. It is not known who made it for him or in which labour camp, however, it was made by a patient as a means of gratitude for medical services. It was, according to his son Dorian, a “real memento for him”. One day Dorian, needing a comb, took it out of the drawer and took it to school with him. “When I came back, I pulled out the comb. He hit the roof. I had no idea of the significance”.
Stanislaw Sharota (born Strasser) was born in Rzeszow on 21 February 1911. His father Fryderyk was a doctor; he died in 1920. His mother Dorota was killed in 1942 when Rzeszow ghetto was liquidated. His sister Irena Czarniecka was also murdered during the liquidation of the ghetto when she refused to be parted from her child. Stanislaw studied medicine at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, graduating in 1939. On 2 April 1939 he married Henryka Feiner; she was a nurse.
In August 1939, he was enlisted into the reserve army in Przemysl. Once war broke out, he volunteered in a hospital in Stanislawowie. When the town was taken over by the Russian army, the staff were detained as POWs but kept working in the hospital. After 18 months when enough Russian doctors had arrived, Stanislaw was released and he returned to Lvov. After some time, he approached the Office of Health who assigned him to the town of Kracowiec, and then sent to Wielkie Oczy, a village with a population of about 1100, of which about 700 were Jewish.
Most of the Jews in the village were deported in June 1942. Stanislaw managed to practiced there as a doctor until September, then he and his wife left for Yaroslavl. They survived various labour camps together: first in Biezanow, then Plaszow, then Skarzysko and finally in Czestochowa, worked together as a medical team.
After the war, Stanislaw found a position in town on the Czech border of Poland, where their son Dorian was born. Needing a more Polish name, he changed it to Szarota. He adopted this name, later using it as a pen name when he wrote poetry, and kept the name in Australia too, but changed the ‘z’ for an ‘h’ to make it more pronounceable.
Stanislaw died in 1972. The comb was always kept in his bedside drawer. It is not known who made it for him or in which labour camp, however, it was made by a patient as a means of gratitude for medical services. It was, according to his son Dorian, a “real memento for him”. One day Dorian, needing a comb, took it out of the drawer and took it to school with him. “When I came back, I pulled out the comb. He hit the roof. I had no idea of the significance”.
Subjectconcentration camps, doctors, resistance
Object namecombs
Materialaluminium
Dimensions
- width: 102.00 mm
height: 20.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Dr. Dorian and Elizabeth Sharota