Concentration camp uniform skirt worn by a Czech Jewish inmate at Auschwitz

Blue and gray striped winter issue uniform skirt issued to Hana Bruml at Auschwitz concentration camp in October 1944. Hana shortened the skirt and made two pockets with the extra fabric. She wore it until liberated from Kudowa-Sackisch slave labor camp in May 1945. Hana was from Prague which, in March 1939, was annexed by Nazi Germany. Heydrich, SS Chief of RSHA, became Reich Protector in September 1941 and ordered the construction of a ghetto-labor camp in Terezin and transports of Jewish prisoners began arriving on November 24, 1941. On July 20, 1942, Hana’s parents Hedvika and Richard Mueller and her grandmother Marie Zappner were sent to the camp. On August 10, 1942, Hana and her husband Rudolf Schiff were transported. That October, Hana's parents were deported to Treblinka killing center. In December 1943, Hana's husband, with his parents and brother, was sent to Auschwitz and killed. On October 1, 1944, Hana was deported to Auschwitz, and then sent to Kudowa-Sackisch where she made airplane parts. She was liberated on May 5, 1945. Karel Bruml, 29, was sent to Terezin in December 1941 with his parents, Jindrich and Irma, sister Anna, and brother Otto and his wife. On January 11, 1942, Karel volunteered to be deported with his parents and sister. They were sent to Auschwitz; his family was killed and Karel was tattooed and sent to Auschwitz III-Monowitz (Buna). In January 1945, Karel was sent to Gleiwitz, Dora-Mittelbau, and Bergen-Belsen where he was liberated on April 15. Hana and Karel met in postwar Prague while searching for news of their families. They found few survivors. Karel and Hana left for the United States in 1946, where they married.