Maintaining Dignity

Subjected to the inhuman conditions and treatment in the camp, inmates were determined not to lose their humanity. This story of a half head scarf is one such example of a survivor who “just wanted to look better” because her head was shaved. “It was vanity.”

Magda Spira (nee Edelmann) was 19-years-old when she was deported in 1944 to Kaiserwald concentration camp, near Riga, Latvia. Upon arrival her hair was shaved. She was assigned to work in the camp sorting the prisoners' belongings, unpicking clothing to search for hidden valuables such as gold and jewellery. Any items found had to be handed over to the authorities. Whilst sorting through these belongings, Magda found a gold coin which, though risky, she decided to keep. She used the coin to buy some bread, and then she used the bread to barter with another inmate for a scarf. The scarf was cut in half and the other half was also sold. Magda attached two strings to the ends, enabling her to tie it securely on her head. Wearing the scarf and covering her shaved head helped her maintain a sense of dignity.

From Kaiserwald, Magda was deported to Magdeburg. Here she worked in an aluminium factory. Then, on the forced ‘death march’ when the women were suddenly abandoned by the Germans, began to make her way back home to Kosice, Slovakia. She proudly wore the scarf on her journey home.

In June 1946, Magda met her husband and they married in September of that year. Together with their young son, they migrated to Israel in 1949, living there for seven years before immigrating to Australia, joining her brother who had survived by hiding in the forest with partisans. Gradually each sister migrated to Australia so they could be together. Their parents were murdered in Auschwitz.