Statue Brand wood and metal hand crank wringer for clothing
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 17.000 inches (43.18 cm) | Width: 29.875 inches (75.883 cm) | Depth: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm)
Creator(s)
- Statue Brand (Manufacturer)
Archival History
The clothes wringer was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by Marek Budziarek.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Marek Budziarek
Scope and Content
Hand crank clothes wringer made of wood and metal, of the type used in the Łódź Ghetto in German-occupied Poland from May 1940 to August 1944. Łódź was occupied by Germany a week after the September 1, 1939, invasion of Poland. The city was renamed Litzmannstadt, and in February 1940, the Jewish population, about 160,000 people, was confined to a small, sealed-off ghetto. All residents had to work, and many became forced laborers in ghetto factories. Eventually, nearly 100 factories were in operation. The major ones produced textiles, including uniforms for the German Army. In the ghetto, people attempted to maintain their normal lives, despite the increasing hardships. Women, when they were not laboring in the factories, worked to prepare food and do laundry for their families. These activities were made difficult by the meager food rations they received, and the lack of running water throughout most of the ghetto. Due to the severe overcrowding and scarce food, disease and starvation were common. The Judenrat (Jewish Council) administered the ghetto for the Germans. Judenrat chairman Mordechai Rumkowski thought hard work and high outputs would preserve the ghetto, but in January 1942, mass deportations to Chelmno killing center began. By the end of the year, half of the residents were murdered. In summer 1944, Łódź, the last ghetto in Poland, was destroyed, and the remaining Jews were sent to Chelmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau killing centers.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Wood and metal clothes ringer with a crank handle comprised of multiple horizontal, wooden members spanning two vertical, wooden supports. A wooden brace is attached to the lower, front half of each vertical support. A metal, key-shaped tub clamp protrudes forward from the bottom of each brace, and would be used to anchor the wringer to the sides of a large basin or tub. The top horizontal bar is turned in the middle and squared-off at the ends. A large, decorative, key-shaped, metal turn screw protrudes from the top of each end to adjust the tension. Below the top is a set of three horizontal bars, an arched metal flat spring flanked by a squared-off horizontal guide bar above and an arched bar below. Below the arched members, there are two white, cylindrical, rubber wringers, one on top of the other, with their ends anchored in what are likely metal gears hidden beneath gear case covers. A curved, metal crank handle with a contoured wooden grip is attached to the wringers through the left vertical support, and turns the gears that move the wringers. Jutting forward below the wringers, on the front, is a folding board: a thin, wooden board with a curved bottom, attached to the vertical supports with scalloped, silver-colored metal brackets. On the back, below the wringers is a thin, wooden board with a curved top that is screwed to the vertical supports. Images of the Statue of Liberty and English text are stamped on the vertical supports and on the folding board. There are remnants of red paint on the second and fourth horizontal bars. The stamped ink is faded in areas, and the rubber wringers are cracked and discolored. There are small boring holes on many of the wooden pieces.
Corporate Bodies
- Litzmannstadt-Getto (Łódź, Poland)
Subjects
- Łódź (Poland)
- Jewish women in the Holocaust--Poland.
- Forced labor--Poland--Łódź.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- United States.
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Łódź.
- World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor--Poland--Łódź.
- Textile workers--Poland.
Genre
- Tools and Equipment
- Appliances.
- Object