Yellow plastic comb with cardboard case carried by a Kindertransport refugee

Identifier
irn521885
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.454.23 a-b
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

a: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)

b: Height: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Karoline (Lilli/Lilly) Schischa was born on March 13, 1927, to Wilhelm and Johanna Friedmann Schischa in Vienna, Austria. Wilhelm was born in Gloggnitz in lower Austria on October 11, 1883, the oldest son of Josef and Karoline Gerstl. He had three siblings, Paula, Helene, and Adolf. Josef, originally from Mattersdorf, was a master tailor and was very religious. Wilhelm’s mother died in 1894 and his father remarried Anna Guenser and had four children, Ludwig, Richard, Malwine (d. 1927), and Erna. Lilli’s mother Johanna was born in 1885 and had two sisters Berta Ohme and Fanny Bauer. Lilli was raised in Wiener Neustadt, along with her older brother, Eduard (Edi), who was born on October 5, 1914. Lilli’s family was very religious and followed Jewish traditions. The Schischas owned a menswear store in Wiener Neustadt which was seized after the Anschluss, the integration of Austria with Nazi Germany in March 1938. Edi emigrated to Palestine that October. During the Kristallnacht pogrom that November 9-10, Wilhelm was arrested and detained in prison for ten days. He was then forced to sell their home. Lilli became ill with scarlet fever and had to be hospitalized. After she recovered, she joined her mother in Vienna, where she had gone with her sister-in-law. On July 13, 1939, Lilli was sent on a Kindertransport to Great Britain. As they waited at the train station, her father put both hands on her head and blessed her. Lilli was sent to live with a group of Jewish refugee girls at the Hackney hostel in London, but soon transferred to Cockley Cley estate in Swaffham, Norfolk. She worked as a seamstress. The war ended with Germany’s surrender on May 7, 1945. Lilli eventually learned that her parents Wilhelm and Johanna, unable to secure visas, were deported from Vienna to the ghetto in Opole Lubelskie in German occupied Poland on February 26, 1941. In spring 1942, the Germans liquidated the ghetto. The Jewish residents were sent to Belzec and Sobibor killing centers and Lilli's parents presumably perished there. Lilli returned to postwar Vienna in 1946 or 1947 as a member of the Young Austria Refugee, a group dedicated to creating a democratic Austria. She was reunited with her mother's sister Berta Ohme, who had not been deported because her husband was not Jewish. Berta had preserved a collection of documents, correspondence, and photographs that Lilli’s mother gave her just before she was deported to Opole. Along with these, she gave Lilli correspondence sent by Johanna and Wilhelm from Opole. Lilli married Max Tauber in 1954. Max, who was also Jewish, was born in Vienna on June 11, 1920, and had lived in Jerusalem. They have two sons. Lilli’s brother Edi lived in Israel until his death in 1963, age 49.

Archival History

The comb and case were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Lilly Schischa Tauber.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Lilli Schischa Tauber

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

Comb with case kept by 11 year Lilly (Karoline) Schischa when she was sent on a Kindertransport from Austria to Great Britain on July 13, 1939. It was a kit made for use while traveling. In March 1938, Nazi Germany marched into Austria and made it part of the Third Reich. Jewish persecution. The clothing store owned by Lilly's parents, Wilhelm and Johanna, in Wiener Neustadt was seized. Lilly's brother, Edi, age 24, left for Palestine in October 1938. Her father was arrested during the Kristallnacht pogrom that November, but released after ten days. Her parents were able to get Lilly out of the country, but in February 1941, they were deported to the ghetto in Opole, Poland. They died either in the ghetto or in Sobibor death camp.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

a. Rectangular yellow plastic comb with a straight top edge with rounded corners. There is a thick outer tooth that angles inward on each side and a thick tooth in the center, with 17 teeth on the right and 23 finer teeth on the left. b. Small, rectangular, nearly flat cardboard comb case, covered with treated brown paper that resembles leather. On the back, the paper is colored dark red. On the front are 2 hand drawn purple lines and the impressed initials G.K.C., colored with gold ink.

b. front, upper left corner, stamped, gold ink : G.K.C. [Globus Kamm Company] b. front, top center, handwritten, purple ink : 3

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.