Green velvet Torah mantle with 10 Commandments found by a US soldier
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 28.250 inches (71.755 cm) | Width: 21.125 inches (53.658 cm)
Creator(s)
- Herman Schwartz (Subject)
Biographical History
Herman Benjamin Schwartz was born on January 9, 1918, to Morris and Elizabeth Izerte Schwartz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Jewish. His father was born in 1887 in the Russian Empire and later immigrated to America. His mother was born in 1892 in Germany and arrived in America by 1910. She and Morris married in 1914. Morris had two older brothers: Isidore (1914-2006) and David (1916-1988.) On October 31, 1918, when Herman was ten months old, his father died of pneumonia following influenza during the Spanish flu epidemic. By 1920, the family was living in Trenton, New Jersey. His mother later remarried Jacob Fritz. Herman had at least one half-sibling. Jacob passed away by 1930. Herman was an accountant. In December 1941, the United States entered the war. Herman enlisted in the US Army on August 22, 1942. He was a private in the Warrant Officers Branch when he deployed to Europe. He served in combat in France and Germany. He was at Dachau concentration camp in Germany soon after its liberation on April 29, 1945. At the end of the war in May 1945, Herman was a First Lieutenant. He married Elva Sylvia Deutchman (1924-2010). The couple resided in Trenton and had three sons. Herman, 82, passed away on August 22, 2000.
Archival History
The Torah mantle was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by Herman Schwartz.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Herman Schwartz
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
Damaged green velvet Torah mantle found by Herman Schwartz, an American soldier, in the debris of a synagogue in Saverne, [Sabern or in German, Zabern or Schwenheim] France, desecrated by German forces at the beginning of the German occupation, June 1940-November 1944. He cut the mantle out of a pile of rubble with his bayonet. It has an applique of the 10 Commandment tablets with elaborate gold metal thread embroidery, a gift of the Women's Society in 1905. Jews had lived in the town since the 14th century. German troops destroyed the upper level of the synagogue, built in 1898-1900, to remove all traces of its Jewish origins. The NS Fliegerkorps, a flying corps, used the building as a training center. The Germans expelled the Jews to make the town Judenfrei [free of Jews.] Herman found the mantle as his battalion moved across the Alsace-Lorraine region of France and into Germany in late 1944 - early 1945. The synagogue was restored by the small Jewish community after the war.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Damaged rectangular green velvet Torah mantle with a large applique of the Ten Commandments above 3 lines of Hebrew text embroidered in gold metal thread with a 5 point star near the lower left and right edges. The 2 vertical tablets have offwhite satin fields with 5 gold metal thread embroidered Hebrew words representing the first word of each Commandment. The side by side tablets have arched tops and are framed by narrow panels of sparkly woven gold cloth on stiff backing with a shared center panel. Extending from each side of the tablets are the side panels of an ornate gold thread embroidered Torah ark with two columns supporting a scalloped crown. The spaces between the columns have gold metal thread scrollwork embroidered on a dark red velvet field. A gold embroidered rod with scroll ends is placed horizontally across the center of each ark, extending onto the green velvet sides. The ark and the tablets are set upon a platform made from 4 rows of gold cloth covered, stiff backing embroidered with different patterns. The crown at the top and the second pedestal step have 3 colored glass stones in gold colored metal settings sewn at evenly spaced intervals; one set is missing the stones. An irregularly cut section of sheer offwhite cloth is attached on the back to reinforce the applique. There are discolored sections. The edges are unevenly torn, ragged, and frayed, with slits and worn areas overall.
front, embroidered, gold metal thread : (transliteration) Matanah mi-Hevrat ha-Nashim / de-K[ehilah] K[edoshah]** Tsabern (?) / 665 L[frat] K[atan]*** [Gift of the Women's Society / of the Holy Community [of] Zabern* /665 (i.e., 1905) according to the minor reckoning]
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Religious aspects.
- Synagogues--Destruction and pillage.
- Jewish soldiers--United States.
- World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage--France.
- Soldiers--United States.
Genre
- Object
- Jewish Art and Symbolism