Identity Card

"This card gave me back my humanity."

Identity card issued to Robbie Waisman, age 14 at liberation, Buchenwald, April 30, 1945.

Jewish children being led out of Buchenwald at liberation, April, 1945. Robbie Waisman is at the back of the group.

Group of boys from Buchenwald dressed in suits, made from discarded Nazi uniforms, 1945. Robbie Waisman top row, second from right.

Story of the Artifact

"I remember getting this card because it was the first time in three years that anyone had bothered to ask me my name, where I was from and who my parents were. In the concentration camp I had been known only by my camp number - 117098. Getting this card was the reverse of what happened to me when I was frist imprisoned in 1942. This card gave me back my humanity. It looks very worn because I carried it everywhere. It proved who I was. It was my security.

When I came to Canada, I packed this card along with some other papers into an old suitcase. As I moved, the suitcase moved with me from place to place, unopened. I knew I had to keep it, that it was an important part of my past. And yet, for years I never looked inside. Just knowing it was there was enough."

Robbie Waisman, interned from age eleven to fourteen in Buchenwald concentration camp

Background

Buchenwald concentration camp, located in central Germany, was opened in 1937. There were approximately 238,980 inmates in Buchenwald, the majority non-Jewish. Many were political prisoners and German criminals. Between 44,000 and 55,000 prisoners died in Buchenwald. When the Americans liberated the camp on April 11, 1945, they found 21,000 prisoners still alive, including 1000 Jewish children. After liberation, Buchenwald became a displaced persons camp.

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Last modified on October 22, 2009