Felt Charms
Object numberM1999/043:003
TitleFelt Charms
DescriptionMiniature felt charms made by Trude Baumann, Oederan concentration camp, Germany, 1944/1945. The charms, using green and red felt, are neatly stitches and attached to a piece of cardboard. On the reverse, Trude has written the date, 1944/45, her name, and Oederan concentration camp, Saxony, Germany.
Five miniature decorations on this card depict a bookmark, two notebooks with tissue paper pages, an artists palette and a black board with numbers 1+1=2 in stitches with a wipe-cloth and writing utensil attached.
Trude Baumann was a seamstress by profession when she was deported to Theresienstadt in November 1942. Two years later she was deported to Auschwitz and then to Oederan, a slave labour camp for women. Like many survivors, Trude did not speak about her experiences so her son could give no information on the charms when he donated them to the Museum.
An intern working in the Curatorial Department came up with a novel idea for research: she reached out to the Nuremburg Toy Museum. We learned that inmates at Oederan worked in a munitions factory that was once a textile mill. It is possible that scraps of fabric found in the factory were used for making charms, a common decorative element attached to shirts, blouses and cardigans. Another possibility is that inmates were forced to make the mementos handed out at street collections for the Winterhilfswerk (WHW) - a charity program steered by the Nazis to support poorer Germans under the slogan ‘None shall starve or freeze’. Donors received a little decoration in appreciation of their contribution; a new token could be collected each week to prove support for the cause. Although giving was voluntary, any who did not donate were exposed in local newspapers.
Five miniature decorations on this card depict a bookmark, two notebooks with tissue paper pages, an artists palette and a black board with numbers 1+1=2 in stitches with a wipe-cloth and writing utensil attached.
Trude Baumann was a seamstress by profession when she was deported to Theresienstadt in November 1942. Two years later she was deported to Auschwitz and then to Oederan, a slave labour camp for women. Like many survivors, Trude did not speak about her experiences so her son could give no information on the charms when he donated them to the Museum.
An intern working in the Curatorial Department came up with a novel idea for research: she reached out to the Nuremburg Toy Museum. We learned that inmates at Oederan worked in a munitions factory that was once a textile mill. It is possible that scraps of fabric found in the factory were used for making charms, a common decorative element attached to shirts, blouses and cardigans. Another possibility is that inmates were forced to make the mementos handed out at street collections for the Winterhilfswerk (WHW) - a charity program steered by the Nazis to support poorer Germans under the slogan ‘None shall starve or freeze’. Donors received a little decoration in appreciation of their contribution; a new token could be collected each week to prove support for the cause. Although giving was voluntary, any who did not donate were exposed in local newspapers.
Object namejewellery
Materialfibres (fabrics)
Dimensions
- cardboard width: 105.00 mm
cardboard height: 105.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Michael John Baumann