Concentration camp inmate uniform jacket worn by a Polish Jewish prisoner in several concentration camps

Blue and gray striped concentration camp uniform jacket issued to 21 year old Jakob Lewkowicz in Blechhammer concentration camp in spring 1944. A white nylon patch with his Auschwitz prisoner number, A-17488, and an inverted red triangle usually used to identify a political prisoner symbol is sewn to the left breast. On September 5, 1939, the German army entered Jakob’s town, Bedzin, Poland. Jakob was sent to Annaberg labor camp and later transported to Auschwitz. In spring 1944, he was transferred to Blechhammer, a subcamp of Auschwitz III-Monowitz. On January 21, 1945, as Soviet forces approached, Jakob was sent on a death march to Gross-Rosen. He was soon transported to Buchenwald in Germany, where he was assigned prisoner number 130322. On March 11, he was sent to Schörzingen. It was evacuated April 18 and the inmates sent by death march to Dachau. On April 22, before reaching Dachau, Jakob was liberated by US soldiers. In October 1949, Jakob emigrated to the United States.