Straight razor in a black plastic cover brought to Shanghai by an Austrian Jewish refugee
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 6.000 inches (15.24 cm) | Width: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Depth: 0.275 inches (0.699 cm)
Creator(s)
- Viktor Stummer (Subject)
Biographical History
Viktor (Kiki) Stummer was born on March 20, 1909 in Vienna, Austria, to Berl and Rachel (Rosa) Fuhrmann Stummer. Berl was born on April 20, 1879, in Lvov, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine). Viktor had one sister, Gisela, born in 1906, and one brother, Alfred, born in 1907. Berl suggested that he learn a trade and he applied as an apprentice at Siemens-Schuckertwerke, a German electrical engineering company. During the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10 1938, Viktor was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp. He was released with proof of a ticket to Shanghai, China. Gisela secured the ticket for Viktor, but she decided to stay in Vienna with their parents. In Shanghai, Viktor lived in Heime Pingliang in the Hongkew district and worked as a welder constructing bunk beds. In October 1942, he worked inspecting and repairing machinery in the Caffeine Factory for Mutual Chemical Industries. In 1943, Japanese authorities ordered all stateless refugees to move into the Hongkew ghetto. Shanghai was liberated by the United States Army on September 3, 1945. Viktor worked in maintenance at Kiangwan Airfield for the American Consulate. In 1949, Viktor emigrated to Canada because the Austrian quota list for the US was filled. A year later, he emigrated to the United States and on January 25, he married Gerda Lewin Harpuder. Gerda was born in Berlin, Germany, and fled to Shanghai with her first husband and two children in 1939. Viktor met Gerda in Shanghai in 1941, when she asked Viktor to repair a candlestick. Years after the war, Viktor learned that Berl and Gisela were transported to Riga, Latvia, in January 1942, and were killed. Alfred escaped to Odessa, Russia (Ukraine) and survived. Rachel died of natural causes on December 24, 1940. Gerda passed away on November 22, 1996, age 91. Viktor passed away on May 5, 2003, age 94.
Archival History
The razor was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Yvonne Harpuder, the widow of Ralph Harpuder.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Yvonne Harpuder
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Straight razor kept by Viktor Stummer when he fled from Vienna, Austria, to Shanghai, China, circa December 1938, following his release from Dachau concentration camp. He was imprisoned during Kristallnacht that November 9-10 and released after his sister secured him a ticket to Shanghai. He lived in the Hongkew ghetto and worked as a welder. Shanghai was liberated by the US Army on September 3, 1945. In 1949, Viktor emigrated to Canada and the next year he moved to the US where he married a fellow Shanghai refugee, Gerda Harpuder. They met in Hongkew in 1941 when Gerda asked Viktor to repair a candlestick. Gerda escaped Berlin, Germany, in early 1939 with her husband, Hans, and children, Ursula, age 14, and Ralf, age 4. Hans died of malnutrition in October 1945. Gerda and her family emigrated to the US in March 1947.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Straight steel razor blade enclosed in a slightly curved, black plastic handle attached by a pivot on one end that serves as a hinge; there is a rivet on the other end. The handle is in 2 parts with a slot in between into which the blade folds with a piece of wood near the rivet. The blade has a curved finger tab at one end to unfold. There is engraved text on both sides of the handle, near the pivot.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--China--Shanghai.
- Jews, German--China--Shanghai.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Berlin.
- Holocaust survivors--United States.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--China--Shanghai.
- Jewish refugees--China--Shanghai.
Genre
- Object
- Personal Equipment and Supplies