Brown knit hat with a J triangle patch and initials worn by a political prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Washington, United States
Brown cap with two patches worn by 29 year old Ivan (Johann) Bole in Buchenwald concentration camp from November 1944 until April 1945. The J (for Jugoslawisch) and the red inverted triangle indicated the wearer was a Yugoslavian political prisoner. The striped patch represents the Yugoslavian flag. Ivan, a Catholic, was a lawyer in Laibach, Yugoslavia (Ljubljana, Slovenia) when the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, invaded in April 1941. Laibach was annexed by Italy. Ivan went to Venice with the Slovenian Red Cross. In September 1944, he was arrested by the German SS for smuggling a radio transmitter into Trieste. In November, Ivan was sent to Buchenwald in Germany and assigned prisoner number 67186. He was assigned to work commando A6 in Wanz-leben am See. The camp was liberated on April 11, 1945, by US troops. Germany surrendered on May 7. Ivan lived as a displaced person in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and emigrated to America in 1950.
- Title: Brown knit hat with a J triangle patch and initials worn by a political prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp
- Location: Yugoslavia--History--Axis occupation, 1941-1945--Biography.
- Provenance: The cap was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011 by Lorraine DeMaio, the daughter of John Bole.
- Subject Keywords: Concentration camp inmates--Germany--Weimar--Biography. Political prisoners--Germany--Biography. Political prisoners--Yugoslavia--Biography. World War, 1939-1945--Italy--Trieste. World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, German--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Personal narratives.
- Type: Dress Accessories
- Rights: Permanent Collection
- External Link: See the full record at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Medium: Brown machine knit wool cap with a rounded top and a straight, hemmed bottom, sewn from 2 pieces of cloth. Two patches are sewn on the front in black thread: an inverted red triangle with a stamped black letter J and, sewn over the bottom point of the triangle, a rectangular patch made from blue, white, and red cloth stripes sewn together with black thread. Initials are embroidered to the upper left.
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