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Tin pail made for one prisoner by another in Kaufering concentration camp

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Washington, United States

Tin bucket made in Kaufering concentration camp for 14 year old Shmuel Rabinovitz by the head tinsmith. It originally had a cover, but it was lost. The large size of the pail was very helpful for Shmuel. He was often able to get a larger serving of soup and he could keep his bread portion in it as well. Shmuel carried the pail with him on the death march in April 1945 when the Germans evacuated the camp because of approaching US troops. Shmuel and his parents, Yitzchak and Shulamit, were incarcerated in the Jewish ghetto in Kovno (Kaunus], Lithuania, after the Germans occupied the city in June 1941. The ghetto was taken over by the SS and converted to Kauen concentration camp in fall 1943. The Germans prepared to destroy the ghetto in the summer of 1944 and Shmuel and his family were deported in July to Dachau. Shmuel was then sent to Kaufering forced labor camp, a Dachau subcamp. He was liberated during the death march to Dachau on May 2, 1945. He was reunited with his parents at a displaced persons camp in Travisio, Italy in July. Four months later, they emigrated to Palestine.

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  • Title: Tin pail made for one prisoner by another in Kaufering concentration camp
  • Provenance: The pail was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1998 by Shmuel Elhanan.
  • Subject Keywords: Child concentration camp inmates--Germany--Kaufering--Personal narratives. Concentration camp inmates--Germany--Kaufering--Personal narratives. Death marches--Germany--Biography. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Lithuania--Kaunas--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust--Lithuania--Kaunas--Biography. Slave labor--Germany--Kaufering--Biography.
  • Type: Containers
  • Rights: Permanent Collection
  • External Link: See the full record at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  • Medium: Lightweight silver colored tin pail with a rusted iron-alloy wire handle inserted, then bent upward, through a small circular hole in a rectangular tab nailed, then bent outward, on each side of the pail near the rim. The rim has been folded over and hammered around a circle of the same wire to shape and reinforce it. The single side seam and bottom rim seam are hammered flat; the base is slightly irregular. The pail is smooth, but mottled, with some scratches and corrosion.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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