Leather razor strop used by a barber in a concentration camp
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 30.000 inches (76.2 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 0.120 inches (0.305 cm)
Creator(s)
- Alexander Stankiewicz (Subject)
Biographical History
Alexander Stankiewicz, a Roman Catholic, was born on November 16, 1903, in Kamienskoje (or Kaminsk) Poland (or Russia). He was of Polish nationality and lived with his mother, Stanislawa Raczowska. He was barber and hairdresser. In 1941, he lived in Wloclawek, Poland, called Leslau by the occupying Germans. He was arrested February 16 for membership in a Polish political and literary organization, Kujawski Zwiazek Polityczno Literacki Zew. He was sentenced to prison and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. His prisoner number was 24993. On March 11, 1943, he was transferred to a work detail in a nearby subcamp in Linz. After the war, he returned to Poland.
Archival History
The barber's strop was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Jan Niebrzydowski.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jan Niebrzydowski
Scope and Content
Barber's strop used by Alexander Stankiewicz while an inmate at Mauthausen concentration camp where he worked as a barber. Stankiewicz was a Roman Catholic Pole, living in Wloclawek, (Leslau) Poland, who in 1941 was arrested and imprisoned by the occupying Germans for his membership in a Polish political and literary organization. At Mauthausen, his prisoner number was 24993. After the war ended in 1945, he returned to Poland.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Long, brown, leather strap with a brown leather tab hand sewn on one end and a silver-colored, semi-circular, flat metal end cap attached by a screw to the other end. The cap has a stamped pebbled design with a dotted border. A metal snap hook is attached to the cap by a metal suspension ring and a semi-circular link on a pivot. Near the cap end, the strap has an imprinted design of a standing horse facing left and English text.
Subjects
- Political prisoners--Poland--Biography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Polish.
- Concentration camp inmates--Austria.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives, Polish.
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
Genre
- Tools and Equipment
- Object