jacket
Object numberM1991/003
Titlejacket
DescriptionConcentration camp jacket made from blue and grey striped cloth. Evidence that it has been produced from pieces from different rolls of material. The jacket has a collar, five button-holes and a metal hook and eye at the neck. Inside the neck at the back there is a loop for hanging the garment, and the number 52 printed on the cloth. A small thread where the ID badge once was is still visible on the left breast. The owner of the jacket was Laszlo Baoso Blum, from Budapest (brother of the donor Gisella Scheinberg). He wore the jacket as an inmate of Dachau concentration camp.
Laszlo (Leslie) Blum was born on 15 April 1923 in Budapest, Hungary. He died in 1975, aged 52. He was one of four children; his siblings were Aranka (born 1919), Gisella (born 1921) and Tibor (born 1925). Aranka immigrated to New York in 1939, but died of pneumonia soon after.
In 1941, when Laszlo was 18, he was sent to a Hungarian forced labour camp, where he laboured for three years. He became active in the socialist movement, and with contacts organised a workshop to produce fake documents for others to hide from the Nazis. Many people escaped because of this. His sister Gisella’s exemption had expired and she was living in a ‘Jewish House’ in the city, with their mother and grandmother. Gisella obtained false papers, and hid with Laszlo in bombed out houses. One day, Laszlo left to go to the workshop; it was raided and he was taken as a political prisoner to Dachau concentration camp. After liberation he was sent to Switzerland to recover from TB. It took him 3-4 months to be able to walk again. He returned to Hungary, but he never recovered emotionally and suffered long-term disability due to a hand injury sustained in Dachau. He married, and eventually got a job as a manager of a factory in Budapest.
Laszlo's jacket was kept by his brother Tibor, who gave it to his sister Gisella, living in Australia. The donor, Gisella Scheinberg (nee Blum) felt that an object like this affirms Laszlo’s experiences, and hopes that anyone who sees it will remember her brother, his suffering, the terrible life he had, and the Holocaust. Gisella recalls that Tibor had a similar jacket, but it was covered in lice, so he burned it, like so many others did. Also, she explained, they did not want to remember the trauma they experienced.
Laszlo (Leslie) Blum was born on 15 April 1923 in Budapest, Hungary. He died in 1975, aged 52. He was one of four children; his siblings were Aranka (born 1919), Gisella (born 1921) and Tibor (born 1925). Aranka immigrated to New York in 1939, but died of pneumonia soon after.
In 1941, when Laszlo was 18, he was sent to a Hungarian forced labour camp, where he laboured for three years. He became active in the socialist movement, and with contacts organised a workshop to produce fake documents for others to hide from the Nazis. Many people escaped because of this. His sister Gisella’s exemption had expired and she was living in a ‘Jewish House’ in the city, with their mother and grandmother. Gisella obtained false papers, and hid with Laszlo in bombed out houses. One day, Laszlo left to go to the workshop; it was raided and he was taken as a political prisoner to Dachau concentration camp. After liberation he was sent to Switzerland to recover from TB. It took him 3-4 months to be able to walk again. He returned to Hungary, but he never recovered emotionally and suffered long-term disability due to a hand injury sustained in Dachau. He married, and eventually got a job as a manager of a factory in Budapest.
Laszlo's jacket was kept by his brother Tibor, who gave it to his sister Gisella, living in Australia. The donor, Gisella Scheinberg (nee Blum) felt that an object like this affirms Laszlo’s experiences, and hopes that anyone who sees it will remember her brother, his suffering, the terrible life he had, and the Holocaust. Gisella recalls that Tibor had a similar jacket, but it was covered in lice, so he burned it, like so many others did. Also, she explained, they did not want to remember the trauma they experienced.
Production date 1941 - 1945
Object nameconcentration camp clothing
Materialfibres (fabrics)
Dimensions
- whole length: 675.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Gisella Scheinberg