Pair of handmade wooden soled suede boots from Mauthausen concentration camp
Extent and Medium
a: Height: 10.750 inches (27.305 cm) | Width: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Depth: 6.750 inches (17.145 cm)
b: Height: 10.625 inches (26.988 cm) | Width: 3.875 inches (9.843 cm) | Depth: 6.750 inches (17.145 cm)
Archival History
The boots were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by the Estate of Robert L. White.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Estate of Robert L. White
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Pair of handmade leather ankle boots with wooden soles made at Mauthausen concentration camp. Soon after Nazi Germany incorporated Austria in March 1938, SS Chief Himmler chose a site for a camp to incarcerate Austrian traitors near the town of Mauthausen. The first prisoners were sent there in August. Until the war's end on May 7, 1945, Mauthausen inmates chiefly consisted of convicted criminals, "asocials," such as Roma and Sinti, political opponents, including anti-Franco Spanish Republicans, and religious conscientious objectors, such as Jehovah's Witnesses. The camp had a killing center and a staff of German doctors who conducted pseudoscientific medical experiments. It eventually had fifty subcamps and a large forced labor force to work the nearby granite quarry. Approximately 95,000 prisoners died or were killed at the camp. The gas chamber was in use until late April 1945. The SS guards abandoned the camp on May 3 and it was liberated by US troops on May 5.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
a. Handmade man's left brown suede leather lace-up ankle boot upper nailed to a thick sole with a low heel made from a single piece of lightweight wood with an exterior suede welt strip nailed around the lower edge. The quarter is double stitched with thick thread and nailed to the vamp. There are 6 punched eyelets and the stiff, worn tongue is sewn under the vamp and over the bottom 3 eyelets. A brown leather strip is sewn vertically to the exterior back heel. The interior leather is smooth and the heel and eyelets are leather lined. The insole has a faded blue stamp with illegible letters. The outsole has a faded oval pencilled near the heel. b. Handmade man's right brown suede leather lace-up ankle boot upper nailed to a thick sole with a low heel made from a single piece of lightweight wood with an exterior suede welt strip nailed around the lower edge. The quarter is double stitched with thick thread and nailed to the vamp. There are 6 punched eyelets with a brown leather lace inserted through one left hole. The stiff, worn tongue is sewn under the vamp and over the bottom 3 eyelets. A brown leather strip is sewn vertically to the exterior back heel. The interior leather is smooth and the heel and eyelets are leather lined. The insole has a faded blue stamp with illegible letters. The outsole has a faded oval pencilled near the heel.
b. interior insole, stamped, blue ink : CEO / COM / [?]ALT
Subjects
- Concentration camp inmates--Austria--Mauthausen--Footwear.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German.
Genre
- Object
- Dress Accessories