Eva Rott’s Slave Labour Ring

Ring (EPH 2287) ring Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30082163

This ring, from the collection of the Imperial War Museum, was made by Eva Rott, née Hamburger, while incarcerated as a slave labourer at the Heinkel aircraft factory in Barth. Eva and her friend Klara Rakos, both Hungarian Jews, were deported to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. They survived several of Dr. Mengele’s selections for the gas chambers. Eva believes that it was their close friendship which aided their survival. They were transported as slave labour to Barth, a sub-camp of Ravensbruck. Here they worked at the Heinkel aircraft factory; Eva made this ring for herself out of aluminium scrap. Eva and Klara were liberated by the Soviet Army on 1 May 1945. Eva was eventually reunited with her mother and stepfather, who had escaped to Tangiers.

We love this ring as a testament to Eva’s skill and resistance.

 

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