Teddy bear carried by a young boy on the Kindertransport
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 20.000 inches (50.8 cm) | Width: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Depth: 5.500 inches (13.97 cm)
Creator(s)
- Jack Hellman (Subject)
Archival History
The teddy bear was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2000 by Jack Hellman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jack Hellman
Scope and Content
Teddy bear received by 14 year old Jack Hellman as a child and carried with him on the Kindertransport in early 1939. When Jack was nine, his parents sent him away to boarding school in Frankfurt, Germany, to escape the vicious anti-semitism in his hometown, Tann. During the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938, synagogues and Jewish businesses all over Germany were vandalized or destroyed. Soon after, the housemother of his boarding school petitioned Baron James de Rothschild in Great Britain to provide refuge for the 26 children in the school, as well as her own family. Rothschild and his wife Lilian agreed and Jack and the others left on a Kindertransport for England. Jack persuaded Rothschild to provide a work permit for his father and he and Jack's mother escaped to England in late August 1939.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
a. Stuffed bear with a yellow synthetic fur body with a movable head, arms, and legs. It has brown and yellow plastic eyes, felt paws, and black yarn stitching for the nose and mouth. b. Red, satin ribbon tied around neck, not original to toy.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--Germany--Biography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Great Britain.
- Kindertransports (Rescue operations)--Great Britain--Personal narratives, German.
- Jewish refugees--Great Britain--Biography.
Genre
- Toys
- Object