Engraved silver perfume bottle carried postwar by a refugee searching for her family
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 1.378 inches (3.5 cm) | Depth: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm)
Creator(s)
- Irena Urdang DeTour (Subject)
Biographical History
Irena de Tour was born in 1924 in Warsaw, Poland, the daughter of Seweryn Ehrlich vel Sluszny and Felicja Lubelczyk Ehrlich. She had a younger sister, Danuta, born in 1929. Irena attended the Perla Lbinska Gimnazjum. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Irena and her family were confined to the Warsaw ghetto in November 1940, where she worked in an Electropol factory. Irena escaped the ghetto to the Christian section of Warsaw in March 1943 and acquired false documents and work as a maid. Following the suppression of the Warsaw ghetto uprising that year, Irena was sent to a slave labor camp in Berlin, along with her aunt. She was assigned to work in the Schwartzkopf ammunition factory. In September 1944, Irena joined the underground resistance - building barricades, organizing shelters, and working for the Red Cross. After the war ended in May 1945, Irena walked to Warsaw to search for family members. Her father had died in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. But she found her mother and sister and, together, they were placed in Bindermichl displaced persons camp in Linz, Austria. Irena worked for the United Nations Refugee Relief Agency (UNRRA) as an interpreter and secretary. In 1947, the family emigrated to the United States on the SS Marine Perch and settled in New York City. Irena graduated from Hunter College in 1956. She has two children and runs an antique business in Connecticut.
Archival History
The perfume bottle was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 by Irena Urdang de Tour, the daughter of Felicia and Seweryn Ehrlich vel Sluszny.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Irena Urdang deTour
Scope and Content
Perfume bottle engraved with Irena Ehrlich von Sluzny's initials, IE. She carried this with her when she walked from Berlin to Warsaw in 1945, in search of her family. Irena, her parents, Felicia and Seweryn, and younger sister, Danuta, were confined to the Warsaw ghetto in 1940. In March 1943, 19 year old Irena escaped to the Christian sector of Warsaw. April 1943 brought the Warsaw ghetto uprising and its violent suppression by the Germans, with mass deportations of all Jews in Warsaw and the annihilation of the ghetto. Her father, aged 39, was killed during the uprising. Her mother and 14 year old sister escaped and were hidden for the rest of the war by Juana Dylag. Irena was deported to a slave labor camp in Berlin. Felicia, Danuta, and Irena were reunited in Warsaw after the war. From 1945-1947, they were in the Bindermichl displaced persons camp in Linz, Austria. They emigrated to the United States on the SS Marine Perch in 1947.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Silver perfume bottle in a flattened bulbous shape with a flat bottom. The body is covered with a scroll design; the back is blank. There is a banner on the body with Cyrillic characters and a shield with engraved initials under the banner. It has a mushroom shaped cap and incised flowers on the top of the bulb. There is a chain with a clip attached to the body.
center, stylized script, engraved : IE
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Austria.
- Jewish refugees--Austria--Linz.
- Slave labor--Germany--Berlin.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- Jewish families--Poland--Warsaw.
Genre
- Containers
- Object