Torah
Extent and Medium
Height: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) | Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm)
overall: Height: 135.380 inches (343.865 cm) | Width: 4.620 inches (11.735 cm)
Archival History
The miniature Torah was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007 by Beatrice Muchman, the granddaughter of Johanna Baruch Boas.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Beatrice Muchman
Scope and Content
Miniature Torah preserved by Johanna Baruch Boas while living in hiding in Brussels, Belgium. The Torah belonged to her husband, Bernhard, and was possibly used while traveling. Bernhard died in Berlin in 1932. Johanna carried it with her when she fled Nazi Germany for Brussels in March 1939, with her daughter’s family. The Germans occupied Belgium in May 1940 and enacted punitive anti-Jewish legislation. Soon they were deporting Jews to concentration camps. Johanna buried the yarmulke and other religious items to keep them safe during the occupation. Johanna survived with the help of her non-Jewish landlady who hid her in her attic. In December 1944, she was reunited with her 11 year old niece, Beatrice Westheimer, who had fled Germany with her. She had lived in hiding in a small village, but her parents and an uncle had been deported and killed at Auschwitz. Johanna and Beatrice immigrated to the United States in 1946.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Miniature paper Torah scroll with printed Hebrew text wound on a wooden dowel with red plastic handles. Blue discs with Asian characters surround the scroll. The outer wrapping is white cloth with a yellow band on the edges. The cloth has a gold colored printed design of a crown flanked by Hebrew text; beneath are tablets flanked by 2 lions, within a scrollwork design. Beneath this is a 6-pointed Star of David and the word Genesis written in English to the left of the star and written in Hebrew to the right. The scroll is a long piece of paper made up of sections with printed blocks of Hebrew text.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Belgium.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--Belgium.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives.
- Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust--Belgium.
- World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Belgium.
- Hidden children (Holocaust)--Belgium.
- Jewish families--Belgium.
- Jewish refugees--Belgium.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Belgium--Personal narratives.
Genre
- Object
- Jewish Art and Symbolism