World War I Iron Cross medal with striped ribbon awarded to a German Jewish refugee
Extent and Medium
a: Height: 2.375 inches (6.033 cm) | Width: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm)
b: Height: 11.375 inches (28.893 cm) | Width: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm)
Creator(s)
- Max Wachtel (Subject)
Biographical History
Max Wachtel was born on June 17, 1884, in Erfurt, Germany, and owned a factory which manufactured heels for shoes. His family had lived in Germany since the Middle Ages. During WWI, Max served in the German Army for four years and was decorated with the Iron Cross. Max married Erna Bielschowsky, also from Erfurt, on December 25, 1910. The Wachtel family belonged to a Conservative synagogue. Ilsolotte, the eldest daughter, was born on November 11, 1911, another daughter, Ursula was born on January 1, 1915, and their son Hans Joseph was born on December 27, 1922 in Erfurt. In 1937, Max's factory was confiscated. He was able to arrange for U.S. immigration visas with sponsorship from family relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio. On May 14, 1938 Max, Erna, Ursula, and Hans Wachtel sailed from Hamburg, Germany to New York on the "President Roosevelt" arriving on May 21, 1938. The Wachtel family settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. Max started a landscaping business, Erna worked as a seamstress, and Ursula worked as a beautician. Hans volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1941, and served in Europe during World War II, returning to Cincinnati after his discharge in 1945. Ilsolotte had immigrated to Norway to work as a governess before the Wachtel family immigrated to the United States, she married and stayed there.
Archival History
The Iron Cross medal was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2009 by Andrea Wolf and Thomas Wolf, the grandchildren of Max Wachtel.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Andrea K. Wolf and Thomas M. Wolf
Scope and Content
Iron Cross awarded to Max Wachtel for service in the German Army during World War I, 1914-1918. After four years of increasingly antisemitic Nazi rule, Max’s shoe factory in Erfurt, Germany, was confiscated in 1937 because he was Jewish. Max was able to get immigration visas for the United States, with the sponsorship of relatives in Ohio. On May 14, 1938, Max, his wife Erna, and children, Ursula and Hans, sailed from Hamburg to the US on the President Roosevelt. They arrived on May 21 and settled in Cincinnati.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
a. Blackened iron medal in the form of a cross pattee with concave arms with a silver colored, reeded line border. The front has an embossed vertical design: at the top of the central arm is a crown, then the letters FW, a sprig of 3 oak leaves and 2 acorns, and, at the bottom, the date 1813. On the reverse descending from the top of the central arm is a crown, in the center a W, and, at the bottom, the date 1914. A suspension ring is attached at the top. b. Grosgrain ribbon with the following vertical stripes: black, white, red, white, black, threaded through a ring attached to the crown at the top of the medal (a).
Subjects
- World War, 1914-1918--Military personnel--German--Personal narratives.
- World War, 1914-1918--Participation, German.
- United States--Emigration and immigration--Biography.
- Jews--Persecutions--Germany--Biography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--United States--Personal narratives, German.
- Germany--Emigration and immigration--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives.
- Jewish refugees--United States--Biography.
Genre
- Military Insignia
- Object