Dr. Sofia Pantouvaki is Scenographer and Professor of Costume Design in the Department of Film, TV & Scenography, Aalto University, Finland.

On Wednesday 13 February at 1pm, Dr. Sofia Pantouvaki is giving a lecture at the Sydney Jewish Museum on Concentration Camp Clothing during World War II.

Clothing in the concentration camps during World War II served to cover the human body, but above all to identify individuals as prisoners. Research has shown that prisoners in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps did not always wear striped uniforms; a wide range of other garments, including civilian clothing marked in specific ways, was used to identify inmates as well. Their prisoner status was underlined by numbers, tattooed on their arms, as well as by various markings worn, sewn or painted on their clothing.

The lecture draws on archival testimony and personal interviews given by former camp inmates. Material from these survivors’ recollections elucidates certain personal aspects of the clothing they wore and the way they dressed in the concentration camps.

This event is part of the Dressing Sydney program.