This tin spoon was made by Jacob Chaim when he was prisoner of the Dora-Mittelbau forced labour camp. He created the spoon because Nazi guards, to dehumanize Jewish inmates, did not provide cutlery to eat their small food rations.

Jacob Chaim's Spoon

This tin spoon was made by Jacob Chaim when he was prisoner of the Dora-Mittelbau forced labour camp. (Photo: Peter Berra)
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This tin spoon was made by Jacob Chaim when he was prisoner of the Dora-Mittelbau forced labour camp. (Photo: Peter Berra)

He created the spoon because Nazi guards, to dehumanize Jewish inmates, did not provide cutlery to eat their small food rations. (Photo: Peter Berra)
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He created the spoon because Nazi guards, to dehumanize Jewish inmates, did not provide cutlery to eat their small food rations. (Photo: Peter Berra)

Currency coupon from Dora-Mittelbau camp that prisoners could exchange for food.
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Currency coupon from Dora-Mittelbau camp that prisoners could exchange for food.

Dora-Mittelbau Forced Labour Camp

The Dora-Mittelbau forced labour camp, located in Germany, was active between 1942 and 1945. Most of the prisoners had to work in the underground weapons factory where they spent long hours without seeing the sun.

Resistance at Dora-Mittelbau

Sabotage operations were orchestrated by forced labour prisoners to delay the production of German weapons. Prisoners that were accused of such actions were publicly executed by the camp guards. More than 200 were hanged in the camp.

Jacob Chaim donated this spoon to the Montreal Holocaust Museum.

This project is part of the implementation of the Plan culturel numérique du Québec.Objets phares de l'Holocauste, Plan culturel numérique du Québec.

Explain dehumanization with this object

Find more tips on how to teach the Holocaust to 11 to 17 year-old students.

Teaching the Holocaust in High Schools

Use this Artefact to Teach the Holocaust

By using our convenient artefact analysis chart, your students can learn about the history of the Holocaust.

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