Auction 5 Eretz Israel, settlement, anti-Semitism, Holocaust and She'erit Ha-Pleita, postcards and photographs, letters by rabbis and rebbes, Chabad, Judaica, and more
By DYNASTY
Apr 1, 2020
1 Abraham Ferera, Jerusalem., Israel

The auction will take place on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at 18:00 (Israel time).


 According to the instructions, we are unable to display the items in this auction to the audience In our office. We apologize to the audience who requested to come to the items display. Health and happiness to our customer, and to all Beit Israel!

The auction has ended

LOT 40:

An armband of a unit commander of the Jewish capo police in the ghetto

Sold for: $200
Start price:
$ 200
Buyer's Premium: 22%
VAT: 17% On commission only

An armband of a unit commander of the Jewish capo police in the ghetto


Lager Kommandant - Armband of a guard commander of the Jewish Kapo police in the [Kaunas] ghetto, 1940s.


The Jewish ghetto police in Kaunas is notorious, especially at the end of the ghetto in what was known as the "children's act". The most brutal act of the ghetto. The Germans forced Jewish policemen to reveal children's hiding places. Those who refused were transferred to the Ninth Fort and shot dead. About 1,800 babies, children and the elderly were murdered in less than 48 hours. Most of the 130 Jewish police officers were transferred to the Ninth Fort (part of a chain of 19th-century fortresses that protected the city, which was a detention camp), where they were beaten and tortured to discover the ghetto hiding places. Thirty-four members of the Jewish Police were executed, include Commander Moshe Levin and his deputies Yehuda Zopovich and Ika Greenberg who were also leaders of the underground. Seven police officers were tortured and revealed to the Germans the existence of hiding places they knew.


The next day, the hunt continued, with the help of Jewish police who were tortured. "The Jews in the ghetto were astonished to see Jewish policemen traveling with the Germans in the same car from one place to another, helping to discover the "melinots" (The hideouts) of the helpless children and elderly people (Leib Garfunkel, "Jewish Kaunas in its ruin", p. 180). Thus, another 300 victims were discovered. About 1,200 children and seniors who managed to hide in their hiding-places were eventually discovered and murdered in Fort Ninth and Auschwitz.


46x10 cm. Stains, good condition.