Pin with depiction of the Lodz ghetto found by Szmul Brasz among the ghetto ruins

Fashioning small mementoes with visual depictions of life in the Lodz ghetto was one of the ways in which ghetto inmates attempted to maintain a semblance of freedom. Creating these mementoes necessitated technical expertise and artistic talent. The themes depicted on metalwork from the Lodz ghetto recur in drawings and photographs documenting ghetto life. The brooch is engraved with the initials HS, a Star of David and scenes of ghetto life: The spire of the Catholic church situated next to the wooden bridge of the ghetto, transporting loaves of bread in a wagon pulled along by two people, and a guard standing next to his booth at the entrance of the ghetto.