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Displaying items 101 to 120 of 7,647
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Item type: Archival Descriptions

  1. Circular, geometric-patterned earring owned by an Austrian Jewish refugee

    1. Leopold and Herta Stoer family collection

    Single damascene earring brought to the United States by Herta Schwarzbart Stoer when she emigrated from Vienna, Austria, in February 1939. The earring likely belonged to her mother, Pauline Schwarzbart (née Flesch). Herta lived in Vienna with her mother and father, Arthur Schwarzbart, and four siblings: Hilda, Fritz, Ella, and Hansi. Arthur died from tetanus in November 1914 during his military service in World War I. As a result, Pauline had to close the lingerie business they ran together before the war. Her daughter, Hilda began making and selling children’s clothing out of a storefront...

  2. Miniature ivory penknife carried by an Austrian refugee family

    1. Elisabeth Orsten family collection

    Miniature penknife given to 13 year old Elisabeth Ornstein by her parents Hilda and Paul after they were reunited in New York in 1940 during the war. Elisabeth and her family were from Vienna where the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938 led to severe anti-Semitic persecution. Although they were practicing Catholics and did not identify themselves as Jews, they were Jews under Nazi law. After Kristallnacht in November 9, 1938, Elisabeth's parents decided to send the children out of the country. Elisabeth and Georg, 9 years, were given passage on a Kindertransport to England by the Quak...

  3. Silver floral embossed candlestick acquired by a former Kindertransport refugee

    1. John and Gisela Marx Eden collection

    Silver embossed candlestick, one of a pair, with 2013.476.4, owned by John Peter Eden (formerly Hans Eibuschitz), who escaped Czechoslovakia on a Kindertransport in 1939. The candlesticks were possibly brought to the United States before the war by John’s grandmother. After Germany invaded and annexed Czechoslovakia in March 1939, 12 year old Hans, and 9 year old brother Steven were sent to Great Britain on a Kindertransport. Hans was placed in private boarding schools. After graduation, he attended the London School of Economics to study actuarial science. In 1944 or 1945, he began trainin...

  4. Silver floral embossed candlestick acquired by a former Kindertransport refugee

    1. John and Gisela Marx Eden collection

    Silver embossed candlestick, one of a pair, with 2013.476.3, owned by John Peter Eden (formerly Hans Eibuschitz), who escaped Czechoslovakia on a Kindertransport in 1939. The candlesticks were possibly brought to the United States before the war by John’s grandmother and given to him later. After Germany invaded and annexed Czechoslovakia in March 1939, 12 year old Hans, and 9 year old brother Steven were sent to Great Britain on a Kindertransport. Hans was placed in private boarding schools. After graduation, he attended the London School of Economics to study actuarial science. In 1944 or...

  7. Ina Felczer: photographs of refugee hostel in Harrogate

    This collection contains two digital photographs of refugees at a girls' hostel in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Arriving in the UK Ina Felczer initially stayed in Leeds before being sent to the hostel in Harrogate.

  9. Leather luggage tag used by an Austrian Jewish refugee

    1. Otto Schick collection

    Leather luggage tag used by Otto Schick, 33, when he emigrated from Vienna, Austria, to United States in June 1940. He left by ship from Genoa, Italy, with three handmade trunks, but all the trunks, except one, were lost during the crossing. Otto worked as a metal worker in Vienna which was annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938. Not long after this, he joined an underground vigilante resistance group whose ultimate goal was to assassinate Hitler. In June 1940, Otto received a visa and left for the US. His mother and sister were deported from Vienna to a concentration camp where they perishe...

  10. Painted wooden spice box kept by by a Kindertransport refugee

    1. Hannah Kronheim Deutch collection

    Olive wood spice tower with cloves carried by 17 year old Hannah Kronheim when she left Bochum, Germany, on the Kinderstransport [Children's Transport] in 1939. The box was made in Palestine and used for years by her family. A spice (besamim) box is used during the Havdalah, or separation ceremony, at the end of Shabbat every week. The box is filled with a fragrant spice, such as cinnamon or cloves, and is passed around so that everyone can be be rejuvenated by the sweet smell. Hannah left soon after Kristallnacht, November 9 and 10, 1938, when the synagogue behind her home was set on fire....

  11. Silver sugar tongs carried by a Kindertransport refugee

    1. Hannah Kronheim Deutch collection

    Sugar tongs carried by Hannah Kronheim, 17, who left Germany in 1939 on the Kinderstransport [Children's Transport]. She left soon after Kristallnacht, November 9 and 10, 1938, when the synagogue behind her home in Bochum was set on fire. She arrived in Harwich, England, on February 3, 1939. Hannah was older than most of the children, and no placement arrangements were made for her. She was housed in a boarding house, then a hostel until November 1940 when she was sent to Port Erin internment camp on the Isle of Man. Her mother, Ella Kronheim Mayer, left for Chile on August 25, 1939, with h...

  12. Rose embroidered tablecloth kept by a Kindertransport refugee

    1. Hannah Kronheim Deutch collection

    Tablecloth with roses embroidered by her mother carried by 17 year old Hannah Kronheim when she left Germany on the Kinderstransport [Children's Transport] in 1939. Hannah left soon after Kristallnacht, November 9 and 10, 1938, when the synagogue behind her home in Bochum was set on fire. She arrived in Harwich, England, on February 3, 1939. Hannah was older than most of the children, and no placement arrangements were made for her. She was housed in a boarding house, then a hostel until November 1940 when she was sent to Port Erin internment camp on the Isle of Man. Her mother, Ella Kronhe...

  13. Decorated porcelain teacup saved by a German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    Meissen, ivy-patterned teacup brought with Gertrude Wiesenthal when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany. In March 1939, Gertrude joined her husband, Fritz, and daughters, Illa and Nellie, in the United States. The teacup bears the Meissen, crossed swords maker’s mark and the number 44 beneath, which may be a date stamp indicating it was produced in 1844. Pieces bearing the ivy pattern are often accented with gold lines, and the lack of those here may suggest that this is a factory second, which Gertrude enjoyed acquiring. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. F...

  14. Brown leather billfold brought with a German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    Leather, bifold wallet taken with Ernestine Wiesenthal when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany, to London, England in 1939. The billfold originally belonged to her husband, Otto Wiesenthal, who passed away in 1930. Otto had been a physician, and a slip of paper, identifying his status as a Privy Medical Consultant, is still adhered to the interior. This was an honorary title bestowed on respected medical doctors with more than 20 years of experience. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Following the passage of the Nuremberg laws in 1935, Ernestine’s son, Fri...

  15. Monogrammed silver ladle brought with a German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    Large, silver ladle engraved with Ernestine Unger Wiesenthal’s initials and taken with her when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany, to London, England in 1939. The long stem suggests that this ladle was used to serve liquids from deep dishes, and the fiddlehead shape of the handle was very popular in the 1800s. The maker’s mark might refer to Emil Harnisch, and the 12 Lothian silver purity mark on the back suggests this piece was made prior to the 1888 change in German silver marks. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Following the passage of the Nuremberg l...

  16. Monogrammed dinner knife brought with German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    Dinner knife engraved with Ernestine Unger Wiesenthal’s initials and taken with her when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany, to London, England in 1939. The threaded design and script used for the initials resemble those elements on the ladle (.4) in this collection, and matches another knife from the same donor (2012.493.4). The knife is not part of the same set as the ladle, and the handle is likely made of silver, though it does not bear any marks to verify that. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Following the passage of the Nuremberg laws in 1935, Erne...

  17. Brown leather suitcase used by a Polish Jewish refugee family

    1. William and Bela Citron and Miriam Citron Burhans collection

    Leather suitcase used by the Citron (Cytrynblum) family, 24 year-old Wolf, 22 year-old Bela, and 1 year-old Gela when they emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1949. Bela and Wolf both had been deported from their hometowns in German occupied Poland to the HASAG forced labor camp in Czechostowa, where they first met. Bela was transferred to another labor camp that was liberated in 1944 by the Soviets. Wolf was transferred to several other labor camps and was liberated in January 1945. They both lost nearly all of their family during the Holocaust. They met again after the war in a...

  18. Handmade canvas folder used by a Hungarian Jewish refugee

    1. Lili Scharf Deutsch collection

    Handmade canvas notebook used by Lili Scharf to store correspondence from her family in Israel. It was made for her by her sister, Judith, after her postwar immigration to Israel. In summer 1944, soon after Germany invaded Hungary, Lili, 16, her brother, Bondy, and her parents Herman and Rachel were deported from the Jewish ghetto in Kisvarda to Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Her parents were gassed upon arrival. Bondy was sent to Dachau where he was killed. Lili found her sister Judith, who she thought was in Palestine, in Auschwitz. Lili was sent to Birenbaumel, then via death march to Be...

  19. US Army patch that belonged to a German Jewish refugee

    1. Max Wachtel and Herbert Wolf family collection

    Military patch that may have belonged to Hans Wachtel, who served in the United States Army from 1942-1945. It resembles a standard army rank patch for a Master Sergeant that has been trimmed. Hans and his family had left Nazi Germany in 1937 after the shoe factory owned by his father, Max, in Erfurt, Germany, was confiscated because he was Jewish. Max was able to get immigration visas for the US and on May 14, 1938, 16 year old Hans, his parents, and his sister sailed from Hamburg on the President Roosevelt. Hans volunteered for the U.S. Army on May 14, 1941. He was trained to interrogate ...

  20. Lightweight brown suitcase carried by a Jewish Austrian refugee child

    1. Alfred Kurz family collection

    Brown cardboard suitcase carried by 9 year old Alfred Kurz when he and his 10 year old sister, Doriane, emigrated to the United States from Sweden in July 1946. After Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, Alfred's parents, Emil and Klara, decided to leave the country with their two children. They went to Amsterdam, Netherlands, where there was a branch of the Kurz family optical frames business. Germany occupied Holland in May 1940 and, by 1942, deportations of Jews to concentration camps were frequent. Emil was arrested and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and killed. Klara and the children...