Straight razor used in a concentration camp
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 9.625 inches (24.448 cm) | Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Depth: 0.375 inches (0.953 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 razor 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
Razor 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 was arrested in 1941 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
Slightly curved, yellowed plastic handle with a rectangular, steel, straight edge blade attached by a metal rivet that serves as a hinge. The opposite end of the handle has a similar rivet. The handle is in two parts held together by the rivets with a slot in between into which the blade folds. The blade has a small, curved finger tab to use when folding and unfolding. The handle was probably made to resemble ivory; the top flat side has an inlaid, brown, oval emblem with a palm tree next to a pyramid, and text underneath. The blade has an imprinted palm leaf emblem and 3 letters near its end by the hinge.
Subjects
- Concentration camp inmates--Austria.
- Political prisoners--Poland--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives, Polish.
- World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Polish.
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
Genre
- Personal Equipment and Supplies
- Object