Brown plastic lice comb used by a Romanian Jewish woman concentration camp inmate

Borbala (Babi) Nussbacher was born on April 15, 1915, to Herman and Aranka Wind Nussbacher in Bobota, Transylvania, which became part of Romania in 1918. Herman was born in 1889 and was a shop keeper. Babi's sister Margaret (Gicu), was born in 1918 or 1919, and her brother, Alexander, in 1920. Aranka died in 1920. Herman married Elizabet Stark, who was born in 1895 in Romania. The family lived in Cehu Silvaniei. Babi married Josef Polak. In 1937, the fascist Romanian government enacted anti-Jewish laws similar to those in Germany. In August 1940, the German and Italian foreign ministers pressured Romanian diplomats into giving northern Romania, including Cehu Silvaniei, to Hungary. The Hungarians began conscripting Romanian Jews to work in labor battalions for the Hungarian Army. Josef was conscripted into the Hungarian labor service and sent to the Ukraine. Hungary joined Germany in the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. After the German advance was halted in 1943, Hungary sought a truce with the Western Allies. In March 1944, Germany invaded Hungary. Jews outside of major cities were concentrated in regional centers. Babi was relocated to the Szilagy Somlyo ghetto (Simleu Silvaniei, Romania). In May, Hungarian authorities, in coordination with the Germans Security Police, began the systematic deportation of all the Jews in Hungary to concentration camps. Babi, Herman, and Elizabet were deported to Auschwitz in May 1944. Herman and Elizabet were killed. Babi was selected for labor service and transferred to several more salve labor/concentration camps, including Riga, Stutthof, and Guttau-Neumark. She saw American planes bombing the area and wished a bomb would fall into the camp to end their suffering. Babi was liberated in May 1945. Babi returned to Romania. Her siblings Margaret and Alexander had survived, but her husband Josef perished in Ukraine. Babi met Duzsi Herskovits and they married in 1947. They settled in Satu Mare and had a daughter in 1950. The family immigrated to Israel in 1962. Margaret and Alexander also immigrated to Israel. Duzsi, age 78, died on January 4, 1994. Babi, age 78, died in 1994.

The comb was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Miriam Shelef, the daughter of Borbala (Babi) Nussbacher.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Miriam Shelef

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.