Object numberM1992/021:002
DescriptionSmall penknife (pen knife, pocketknife or razor knife) with a single folding blade. It was made by a concentration camp inmate from scrap materials from an aeroplane factory in Freiberg-Sachsen, Saxony, Germany. Utensils such as these, made by their owners from scrap materials or 'organised' - stolen or obtained on the black market - were significant possessions. It is not known whether the donor, Martha Reiss, made or acquired it.
USHMM has a similar item by Yona Wygocka Dickmann who fashioned a jackknife from aluminium and part of a saw after the SS transferred her from Auschwitz to forced labour at an airplane factory in Freiburg, Germany, in November 1944. She used the knife to extend her daily ration of bread by cutting it in half.
USHMM has a similar item by Yona Wygocka Dickmann who fashioned a jackknife from aluminium and part of a saw after the SS transferred her from Auschwitz to forced labour at an airplane factory in Freiburg, Germany, in November 1944. She used the knife to extend her daily ration of bread by cutting it in half.
Production placeGermany
Production date 1940 - 1945
Object namepenknives
Materialmetal
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs. Marta Reiss