Sydney Jewish Museum Collection | Details | Marianne Lawan (nee Kohn) and mother Rosa Kohn, wearing cloth Star of David Armbands, 1941

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Actions Displays	Marianne Lawan (nee Kohn) and mother Rosa Kohn, wearing cloth Star of David Armbands, 1941 Remove from selection Add to selection Object numberM2009/031:001 TitleMarianne Lawan (nee Kohn) and mother Rosa Kohn, wearing cloth Star of David Armbands, 1941 DescriptionB/W scanned photograph of Marianne Lawan (nee Kohn), aged 11 1/2, with her mother, Rosa Kohn (nee Hefter), wearing the cloth Star of David armband on the left hand side of their long-sleeved clothing. The photo was taken 1941 in Teschen, she says. Teschen was a border town near the Czech and Polish borders, but was technically part of Poland in 1939 when the war began. The armbands Marianne and Rosa are wearing are a sign of the official Jewish stigma in occupied Poland. Soon after this photo was taken, Rosa was taken to the Warsaw Ghetto and was never heard from again. Marianne ended up in a ghetto near Katowice, in Upper Silesia, and spent the war years in a forced labour camp. At the end of the war Marianne was 16 and alone, the rest of her family having perished. She came to Australia on her own in 1948 and married on 21 June 1949. Production placeTeschen, Poland Production date circa 1941 Subjectphotographs, mothers, daughters, armbands, Star of David, discrimination, ghettos, Jews, stigma Object namephotographs Materialphotographic emulsion, paper, paper Dimensions width: 132.00 mm height: 180.00 mm Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Marianne Lawan

Object numberM2009/031:001

TitleMarianne Lawan (nee Kohn) and mother Rosa Kohn, wearing cloth Star of David Armbands, 1941

DescriptionB/W scanned photograph of Marianne Lawan (nee Kohn), aged 11 1/2, with her mother, Rosa Kohn (nee Hefter), wearing the cloth Star of David armband on the left hand side of their long-sleeved clothing. The photo was taken 1941 in Teschen, she says. Teschen was a border town near the Czech and Polish borders, but was technically part of Poland in 1939 when the war began. The armbands Marianne and Rosa are wearing are a sign of the official Jewish stigma in occupied Poland. Soon after this photo was taken, Rosa was taken to the Warsaw Ghetto and was never heard from again. Marianne ended up in a ghetto near Katowice, in Upper Silesia, and spent the war years in a forced labour camp. At the end of the war Marianne was 16 and alone, the rest of her family having perished. She came to Australia on her own in 1948 and married on 21 June 1949.

Production placeTeschen, Poland

Production date circa 1941

Subjectphotographs, mothers, daughters, armbands, Star of David, discrimination, ghettos, Jews, stigma

Object namephotographs

Materialphotographic emulsion, paper, paper

Dimensions

Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Marianne Lawan

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