Air Force Museum
Concentration Camp Uniform
This rare surviving uniform belonged to Moritz Bomstein, who was imprisoned at Buchenwald. His son Jack later donated it to the museum. Striped clothing marked prisoners inside the camp system and stripped away personal identity. Preserving Bomstein's uniform restores a name and family history to an object designed to erase both.
In depth
History & service
Perhaps the rarest artifact in the Holocaust exhibit, this concentration camp uniform is one of very few still in existence. It was given to the exhibit by Jack Bomstein, whose father Moritz wore the uniform while he was imprisoned at Buchenwald.
Details that tell the story
Belonged to Moritz Bomstein · Associated with Buchenwald concentration camp · Donated by his son Jack Bomstein
The second front was the factory and the flight line
Air power required far more than aircraft leaving a factory. Engines, radios, weapons, fuel, spare parts, tools, trained personnel, and suitable airfields had to arrive together. A machine grounded by a missing component could contribute little, however impressive its specifications. Maintenance and supply determined how much of a force was actually available on a given day.
The Second World War made this relationship visible on an extraordinary scale. Production expanded while aircraft designs continued to change. Training organizations had to turn large numbers of recruits into competent aircrew and specialists. Units then operated in climates and conditions very different from those in which the machines had been designed. Improvisation on the flight line worked alongside formal technical orders and a vast replacement system.
The smaller artifacts deserve attention within that story. A tractor moved aircraft and loads around an airfield. A jacket or oxygen mask helped a crew member function in an exposed environment. A trainer allowed procedures to be practiced without consuming a combat aircraft's life. These objects connect the spectacular mission to repeated daily work. Their history broadens the meaning of service: victory depended on people who built, supplied, repaired, taught, recorded, and cared for others, as well as those whose actions became famous in combat.
