Номер объектаM2006/013
ОписаниеCoat, made of black wool, lined with grey silk. The fabric has a self-patterned texture of small squares. At some point it had an astrakhan fur collar, cuffs and a belt. The yellow Star of David came off on 9 May 1945. It belonged to Olga Pohnert, grandmother of the donor. The entire family was sent to Terezin, the concentration camp north of Prague. On 1 October 1944, 51-year-old Olga was deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered; she left the coat behind with her daughter Annemarie. At the time when Annemarie (Mimi) kissed her mother goodbye at the train, she was 28-years-old. Olga’s husband, Victor Pohnert, was deported to Auschwitz on 6 October 1944.
Apart from Mimi and a cousin Tomas who was a small child, the whole family perished. After liberation, Mimi went back to Prague with her husband Pavel Thorsch, whom she met in the camp. Their daughter Daniela was born the next year. When they emigrated to Australia in 1948, the coat came on the Toscana from Genoa, travelling via Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Djakarta, Perth and Melbourne to Sydney.
The "odyssey" of the coat in a way reflects the changing fortunes of this Jewish family - from a well-to-do life in Prague, to suffering and death of the Nazi Holocaust.
Apart from Mimi and a cousin Tomas who was a small child, the whole family perished. After liberation, Mimi went back to Prague with her husband Pavel Thorsch, whom she met in the camp. Their daughter Daniela was born the next year. When they emigrated to Australia in 1948, the coat came on the Toscana from Genoa, travelling via Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Djakarta, Perth and Melbourne to Sydney.
The "odyssey" of the coat in a way reflects the changing fortunes of this Jewish family - from a well-to-do life in Prague, to suffering and death of the Nazi Holocaust.
Наименованиеcoats
Материалwool
Кредитная линияSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Daniela Torsh