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Displaying items 61 to 80 of 7,647
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Item type: Archival Descriptions

  1. Henckels dinner knife brought with a German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    J.A. Henckels table knife taken with Ernestine Wiesenthal when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany, to London, England in 1939. A partial maker’s mark is visible, but is missing the twin mark that identifies when a Henckels piece was manufactured. The knife handle is likely made of silver, though it does not bear any marks to confirm that. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Following the passage of the Nuremberg laws in 1935, Ernestine’s son, Fritz, began looking for places where the family could immigrate as life became increasingly difficult for German Jew...

  2. Notebook cover used by a Kindertransport refugee girl

    1. Alice and Peter Masters collection

    Notebook cover belonging to Alice Ebserstark who, with her sisters Ella and Josephine, escaped Czechoslovakia in 1939 on a Kindertransport to England arranged by Nicholas Winton.

  3. Calling card brought to the US by an Austrian refugee

    Calling card for Ella Nussbaum found in the autograph album, 1994.53.6.1, owned by Irene Rosenthal. Irene fled Nazi ruled Austria for the United States in March 1940. German troops marched over the border into Austria in March 1938. The next day, Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany. Anti-Jewish legislation was enacted to strip Jews of their civil rights. The November 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom vandalized Jewish businesses and homes and destroyed most of the synagogues in Austria. Irene received a visa to leave Austria in March and sailed that month from Genoa, Italy, to New York.

  4. Refugee girls at the de Monbrison chateau in France

    Refugee girls living at a chateau owned by Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison in Quincy-sous-Senart, located about 30 km south of Paris. De Monbrison and the Princess Irena Paley (a niece of the last Russian czar who later became Monbrison's wife) used the chateau to house refugee girls from the Russian and Spanish civil wars. In 1939 de Monbrison was approached by his children's Jewish physician, who was a member of the board of the OSE, and asked whether he would take in a group of forty German Jewish refugee children. The count agreed and the Kinderstransport of boys arrived on July 4, 1...

  5. Circular white tablecloth saved by a by Czech Jewish refugee

    1. Maud Michal Beer family collection

    White linen tablecloth used by Shimon Beer's family in prewar Brno, Czechoslovakia. It was one of several tablecloths, 2012.342.6-11, preserved by his aunt Bertl in Great Britain. Brno was annexed and occupied by Nazi Germany in March 1939. Shimon, 19, left in December 1939 for Palestine, where he joined the Jewish Brigade of the British Army. His parents, Julius and Hildegarde, were deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor, and then to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where they were murdered. His brother Pavel survived both camps.

  6. Rectangular white tablecloth saved by a by Czech Jewish refugee

    1. Maud Michal Beer family collection

    White linen tablecloth used by Shimon Beer's family in prewar Brno, Czechoslovakia. It was one of several tablecloths, 2012.342.6-11, preserved by his aunt Bertl in Great Britain. Brno was annexed and occupied by Nazi Germany in March 1939. Shimon, 19, left in December 1939 for Palestine, where he joined the Jewish Brigade of the British Army. His parents, Julius and Hildegarde, were deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor, and then to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where they were murdered. His brother Pavel survived both camps.

  7. Hand painted Torah binder brought with German Jewish refugee family

    1. Eric Junker family collection

    White wimpel (or Torah binder) with a multi-colored, painted inscription created for Eric Junker. It was brought with the family when they left Aschaffenburg, Germany, for the United States in July 1937, and displayed at Eric's funeral in 2012. A wimpel is used as a binder to keep a Torah scroll tightly wound when not in use. It was a German custom to make a wimpel from the swaddling cloth used at the circumcision ceremony (brit malah), which was performed when a male infant was eight days old. The cloth was usually hand-decorated by the mother or another close family member. After the Nazi...

  8. Green dotted cream handkerchief received by Kindertransport refugee

    1. Ruth Mondschein Zimbler collection

    Silk handkerchief with green dots, embroidered Ruth, sent to Ruth Mondschein for her 11th birthday by Marie, the family's housekeeper in Vienna. Ruth was living in the Netherlands where her parents had sent her on a Kindertransport [Children's Transport] from Austria on December 10, 1938. Her father, Markus, and Marie were arrested at the family's home on Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938. Marie, who was not Jewish, was quickly released. Markus was sent to Dachau concentration camp. He was released on the condition that he leave the country. He arranged for Ruth and her brother, Walter, 6,...

  9. Blue dotted white handkerchief received by Kindertransport refugee

    1. Ruth Mondschein Zimbler collection

    Silk handkerchief with blue dots, embroidered Ruth, sent to Ruth Mondschein for her 11th birthday by Marie, the family's housekeeper in Vienna. Ruth was living in the Netherlands where her parents had sent her on a Kindertransport [Children's Transport] from Austria on December 10, 1938. Her father, Markus, and Marie were arrested at the family's home on Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938. Marie, who was not Jewish, was quickly released. Markus was sent to Dachau concentration camp. He was released on the condition that he leave the country. He arranged for Ruth and her brother, Walter, 6, ...

  10. Colorful chiffon handkerchief sent by Kindertransport refugee to her mother

    1. Ruth Mondschein Zimbler collection

    Colorful handkerchief sent by 11 year old Ruth Mondschein from the Netherlands in 1939 to her mother, Hella, in Vienna, Austria. Ruth had been sent on a Kindertransport [Children's Transport] from Austria on December 10, 1938. Her father, Markus, was arrested on Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, and sent to Dachau concentration camp. He was released on the condition that he leave the country. He arranged for Ruth and her brother, Walter, 6, to escape on the first Kindertransport to the Netherlands. The children later were sent to an aunt in the United States, arriving on October 26, 1939....

  11. Calling card brought to the US by an Austrian refugee

    Calling card for Lizzy Hirschfeld found in the autograph album, 1994.53.6.1, owned by Irene Rosenthal. Irene fled Nazi ruled Austria for the United States in March 1940. German troops marched over the border into Austria in March 1938. The next day, Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany. Anti-Jewish legislation was enacted to strip Jews of their civil rights. The November 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom vandalized Jewish businesses and homes and destroyed most of the synagogues in Austria. Irene received a visa to leave Austria in March and sailed that month from Genoa, Italy, to New York.

  12. Silver charm bracelet saved by a young German Jewish refugee

    1. Karlsruher, Schweizer and Eisenmann family collection

    Charm bracelet with twelve charms saved by 18 year old Ruth Karlsruher, when she escaped Nazi Germany with her mother Jetta in August 1940. Ruth had owned the bracelet since she was a young girl. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, Ruth was living in Mannheim with her parents, Jella and Nathan. Following Nathan’s death in October 1933, Jella and Ruth moved in with Jella’s daughter from her first marriage, Irene Schweizer, her husband Friedrich, and son Hans. Ruth experienced anti-Semitism constantly. During Kristallnacht on November 10, 1938, Friedrich was sent to Dachau and relea...

  13. Embroidered priest's stole owned by a German Jewish refugee

    1. Richard Pfifferling and Ruth Pfifferling Knox family collection

    Catholic priest's vestment with French style spade ends owned by Richard Pfifferling. Richard was Jewish and how and when he acquired the stole is not known. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power and enacted laws that persecuted Jews. Richard and his brothers, Otto and Ernst, fled Dresden, Germany; his brothers to England and Argentina and Richard, in September 1939, to the United States. Their parents, Alexander and Auguste, were unable to leave. Richard later served in the US Army during the war. Richard’s parents were deported to Riga, Latvia, in December 1941, and killed in Auschwitz i...

  14. Monogrammed tallit pouch brought with a German Jewish refugee

    1. Richard Pfifferling and Ruth Pfifferling Knox family collection

    Monogrammed tallit pouch brought with Richard Pfifferling when he left Dresden, Germany, for New York in September 1939. Richard received the pouch and other religious items as a gift for his bar mitzvah circa 1927. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power and enacted laws that persecuted Jews. Richard and his brothers, Otto and Ernst, fled Germany but their parents, Alexander and Auguste, were unable to leave. Richard later served in the US Army during the war. Richard’s parents were deported to Riga, Latvia, in December 1941, and killed in Auschwitz in August 1942. In 1944, he married Ruth ...

  15. Wooden juicer brought with an Austrian Jewish refugee

    1. Marcelle Faust collection

  16. canceled British postage stamp acquired by a German Jewish refugee

    1. Peter Victor family collection

    canceled British 2.5 shilling postage stamp acquired by Peter Victor when he lived as a refugee in Shanghai, China, from 1938-1947. Peter, 18, left Berlin for Shanghai in 1938 to escape the anti-Jewish policies of the Nazi-led government. His parents, Carl and Elsa, arrived in Shanghai in 1939. Carl died in 1940 and Elsa in 1942. Shanghai was liberated by the United States Army on September 3, 1945. With the aid of the American Joint Distribution Committee, Peter emigrated to America in December 1947.

  17. Tapestry cloth purse brought with a young Austrian Jewish refugee

    1. Elfriede Toch collection

    Purse brought with Elfriede Toch when she left Austria in 1939 for the United States. The purse originally belonged to her mother Adele. Elfriede was one of 50 children whose immigration was sponsored by Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus of Philadelphia.

  18. Silver plated fork brought with a Jewish Polish refugee family

    1. Izak and Rywa Manski and Gitl Rozenzweig families collection

    Silver plated fork brought by Rywa Manski when she left Lida, Poland with her three children, traveling via Japan, and arriving in Seattle, WA on May 7, 1941.

  19. Transit pass used prewar by a Jewish refugee

    1. Erwin Tepper collection

    Transit pass used by Juda Ber Tepper in prewar Vienna.

  20. Boy Scout belt owned by a German Jewish refugee

    1. Harry Froehlich and Isaak Judas families collection

    Boy Scout belt that belonged to Harry Froehlich as a child.