Cloth patch printed Buchenwald over a red inverted triangle worn by a German Jewish man

Alfred Fabian was born on May 24, 1910, in Neumark, Germany (now Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Poland), to a Jewish couple. Alfred’s mother was Erna Leyser Fabian, who was born on December 19, 1882, in Culmsee, Prussia (Chelmza, Poland). Alfred’s father died in 1921 at age 41. Alfred was a gardener and lived in Berlin. He married Ruth Imber, who was born on February 23, 1909, in Schulitz, Kreis Bromberg, Germany (Bydgoszcz, Poland), to Elias and Erstina Koralczyk Imber. In January 1933, Hitler came to power in Germany. Anti-Semitic policies were enacted soon after. On January 23, 1938, Alfred and Ruth had a daughter, Ingrid Johanna. On November 9, 1938, during Kristallnacht, Alfred witnessed the synagogue being destroyed. On September 1, 1941, Jews over the age of six were required to wear yellow Star of David badges. On May 10, 1943, Alfred, Ruth, Ingrid, and Alfred’s mother Erna were arrested by the Gestapo and brought to the Hamburgerstrasse clearing station in Berlin. On May 17, they were deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in Czechoslovakia. On October 12, 1944, they were transferred to Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center on Transport Eq. Alfred’s wife, daughter, and mother were murdered on October 13, the day they arrived. In November 1944, Alfred was transferred to Niederorschel slave labor camp, a Buchenwald subcamp in Germany that provided worked for Junkers-Werke aircraft factories. He arrived on November 19 and was assigned prisoner number 95769. On April 1, 1945, Niederorschel was evacuated. Alfred was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. On April 11, Alfred was liberated in Buchenwald by the 761st Tank Battalion, US Army. On May 6, Alfred was released from the custody of the US Army. He returned to Berlin. Alfred’s father- and mother-in-law, Elias and Erstina, survived imprisonment in Theresienstadt. The rest of his family perished. On June 12, 1947, Alfred sailed from Bremen on the SS Ernie Pyle, arriving in New York on June 22. He was sponsored by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Alfred, age 88, died on November 5, 1998, in Bradley Beach, New Jersey.

The badge was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Alfred Fabian.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Alfred Fabian

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