Porcelain souvenir dish of the Marchenbrunnen owned by a young German Jewish prewar emigre

Rosa Dublon was born on March 15, 1927, in Wittlich, Germany, to Jewish parents, Siegfried and Erna Wolf Dublon. Rosa had a sister, Herta, born on November 9, 1931, in Wittlich. Her father, Siegfried, was born on February 17, 1902, in Wittlich, to Michel and Frieda Herz Dublon. Her mother, Erna, was born on October 23, 1907, in Mertloch, Germany. Her father was Samuel Wolf. Erna had three siblings: Jakob, born circa 1901; Helen (1902-2000); and Thekla, born circa 1905. Siegfried and Erna married in approximately 1925 and lived in Wittlich, where Siegfried was a cattle trader. By 1930, Erna's sister Helen, her husband, Otto Lederer, and their children, Robert and Elain, had left for the United States. At some point, Siegfried and Erna moved to Cologne. The couple divorced, and Erna and her daughters moved to Mertloch, where Erna’s family resided. In January 1933, Hitler came to power and, by summer, Germany was ruled by a Nazi dictatorship which actively persecuted Jews. Erna's sister Helen sponsored US immigration visas for the family. On November 26, 1936, Erna, Rosa, and Herta left Germany aboard the SS New York, arriving on December 4. They lived with Helen and her family in Queens, New York. Erna worked as a seamstress. Rosa and Herta Americanized their names to Ruth and Joan. Helen also sponsored visas for her brother, Jakob and his wife Carolina, who arrived in New York in July 1938 aboard the SS Ile De France. Helen's husband Otto sponsored the applications of the remaining Wolf family members. On October 27, 1939, Samuel, Thekla, her husband Karl Daniel, and their children Guenther and Heinz, sailed from Hamburg on the SS President Harding, arriving in New York on November 6. They also lived with Helen and Otto in Queens. After the war ended in May 1945, they eventually learned that the family remaining in Germany did not survive. Ruth's father Siegfried was living in Frankfurt at the end of 1937. At some point, he moved to Paris, France. In September 1939, his German nationality was annulled by the Nazi regime and he perished at an unknown date. Ruth’s paternal grandmother Frieda died on January 31, 1940, and her grandfather Michel on April 13, 1940, both of natural causes. Ruth married Elliot A. (Buddy) Grossmann on October 26, 1947. Buddy was a native of Brooklyn, born on January 7, 1924. He served in the US Army Air Corps during World War II. Ruth and Buddy had two children. Ruth’s sister Joan married and settled in Connecticut. Ruth’s mother, Erna, remarried. Erna, age 77, died on December 3, 1984, in Miami Beach, Florida. Joan, age 61, died on October 30, 1993, in Stamford, Connecticut. Buddy, age 71, died on May 3, 1995, in Boynton Beach, Florida.

The souvenir dish was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Ruth Dublon Grossmann.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ruth Dublon Grossmann

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.