Krakow Ghetto, Poland
Maker unknown

Wood
Prior 1943
Length: 5.75 in
Wind Instruments – Woodwinds – Flute

This small hand-carved wooden whistle (duct) flute has three finger holes. Decorating the instrument is a dark burned Star of David and the words “Getto Krakowskie,” with the Hebrew spelling on the other side. It was most likely made in the Krakow Ghetto during WWII prior to the ghetto’s liquidation in 1942-1943, when the Nazis gathered up and transported Jews deemed able to work to the Płaszów labour camp. In particular, on March 13-14, 1943 some 2,000 Jews, who were considered unfit for work were murdered in the streets of the ghetto or sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz was a concentration camp complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust.