Drawing of a manor house with a fence by A German Jewish refugee

Willy (William) Heinrich Schwabacher was born on July 22, 1897, in Frankfurt, Germany, to Heinrich, a merchant, and Anna Cahn. He had one sister, Cornelia (Nelly) who was born in 1899. The Schwabachers were a wealthy, prominent, assimilated Jewish family who had lived in Frankfurt for generations. Willy joined the German Army during World War I (1914-1918). After the war, Willy returned to school, where he obtained a doctorate in classical archeology and ancient history. He became an archeologist and a numismatic, specializing in ancient coins. He worked on excavations in Turkey, Italy, and Greece for the German Archaeological Institute. Hitler was elected Chancellor in January 1933. By spring, anti-Jewish legislation had been enacted and Jews were forbidden from participating in many areas of German life. In 1935, Willy lost his position on the excavation team because he was Jewish. He went to Austria, where he joined the Austrian Archaeological Institute. But in March 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, and anti-Jewish legislation was enacted. Willy left for Great Britain, then in 1939, went to Denmark, where he worked at the National Museum in Copenhagen. In April 1940, Denmark was occupied by Germany. But it was not until August 1943, when the Danish government resigned and the Germans declared martial law, that the persecution and deportations of Jews to concentration camps began to be organized. Information about the impending round-ups leaked out and the Danish people quickly mobilized to deter the German attempts at deportations. Willy was ferried to Sweden by the Danish resistance and he eventually got a position with the National Museum as a keeper of Greek coins. After the war ended in May 1945, he married, Annemie, a German Jewish survivor of Belsen concentration camp. Willy became an internationally known archeologist who received numerous awards for his work in numismatics. He died in 1972 at the age of 75.

The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Michael G. Rossmann, the nephew of Willy Schwabacher.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Michael G. Rossmann