USHMM RG-31.002M, see http://collections.ushmm.org/findingaids/RG-31.002M.pdf

In 1939, fashion became an economic and symbolic sphere of great importance in France. Invasive textile legislation, rationing and threats from German and American couturiers were pushing the design and trade of Parisian style to its limits. It is widely accepted that French fashion was severely curtailed as a result, isolated from former foreign clients and deposed of its crown as global queen of ...

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Aron Straser (born Aron Struczanski) was the second of Jona and Rywa (née Lapidus) Struczanski's three children. He was born in Smorgon, Poland (Smarhoń, Belarus) in October 1925. Aron had one older brother, Fajwel, and a younger sister, Rachel. Prior to the war, Jona was employed in the local textile trade while Rywa kept the home. In summer 1941 the Jewish residents of Smorgon experienced increasing ...

Basia Garfinkel was born in Będzin, Poland, on November 2, 1927 to Josef Garfinkel (b. 1889) and Jochewed Beitner (b. 1886). Josef owned a general store and a workshop where holiday frocks were sewn. He was a very observant man and follower of the Radomsk Rabbi. The family spoke Yiddish at home and lived at Modrzejewska 44, a building where most of the residents were Jewish, including the Weinstein, ...

Sary Melles was born Nannie Sari Louise Magnus in Groningen, the Netherlands, on 10 June 1928, the daughter of Noach (born 9 June 1886) and Roosje (née Jakobs, born 23 February 1893) Magnus, both of whom were originally from Emmen. Noach owned a textile business in Groningen, and in addition to Sari, the Magnuses had two other children, a daughter Henriette, or Hetty (born 16 August 1916, Emmen), and ...

Scrip, valued at 50 kronen, issued in Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto-labor camp in 1943. All currency was confiscated from deportees upon entry and replaced with scrip and ration coupons that could be exchanged only in the camp. The currency was designed by inmate Peter Kien and printed by the National Bank of Prague. Inmates received the scrip according to a 5-tiered distribution system or as payment ...

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Claude Lanzmann was born in Paris to a Jewish family that immigrated to France from Eastern Europe. He attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. His family went into hiding during World War II. He joined the French resistance at the age of 18 and fought in the Auvergne. Lanzmann opposed the French war in Algeria and signed a 1960 antiwar petition. From 1952 to 1959 he lived with Simone ...