ha-Torah v'ha-Lashon The Torah and the Language Prayer Hebrew prayer book, carried to Ecuador by a German Jewish refugee Das erste Buch Moses The first book of Moses Sefer Breishit The Book of Genesis

Horst Abraham (1917-2003) was born in Leipzig, Germany, to Nanette (nee, Neumeyer, 1881-1960) and David (1881-1958) Abraham. He had two brothers, Kurt (1910-2005) and Max (?-1998). Horst lived in Leipzig until he heard a rumor that he might be arrested, and immigrated to Ecuador in 1937. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland; two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, beginning World War II. Emigrating from Europe became increasingly difficult, as few nations were accepting Jewish refugees, and there was little opportunity to help those left behind. Horst’s parents were able to join him the following year, arriving in December 1940, via Japan and Panama. Kurt also followed them there, while Max immigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he married. In Ecuador’s capital, Quito, the immigrant community was very close-knit. They had a clubhouse called the Beneficiencia, which served as a major center of Jewish life, with a restaurant, card rooms, dances, and plays. The immigrants in Quito also had many businesses, movie theaters, a sports club, and a dance club. Horst worked for a time as a waiter at the ‘Beni’ before obtaining a job in a small German delicatessen, where he met Ilse Brilling (1927-2016). Ilse had immigrated to Chambo, Ecuador in 1939 with her parents, Hedwig (1891-1959) and Isidor (1895-1939), and sister, Hilde (1923-2010). Isidor died in December 1939, and the family moved twice before settling in Quito in 1942. Like other immigrant families, the Brillings shopped at the delicatessen regularly, and Horst eventually asked Ilse on a date. After a year of courtship, the couple got engaged. They married the following year on March 3, 1944. Ilse had worked as an apprentice in a beauty parlor and then began doing hair and manicures in private homes. Horst took over management of the delicatessen where he worked. Germany surrendered to the Allied forces on May 7, 1945, ending the war in Europe. That September, Japan surrendered, ending the war in the Pacific. In May 1946, Host’s sister-in-law, Hilde, and her husband immigrated to the United States, settling in Brooklyn, New York. That same year, Horst’s brother, Kurt, and his family immigrated to the United States, and Ilse and Horst’s first child, Ruth, was born in Ecuador. That August, his mother-in-law’s sister and niece, Claire Brummer and Ingeborg Majewski, joined them in Quito, having survived the war in France. Horst’s parents, David and Nannette, immigrated to the United States in July 1947; Hedwig and Claire immigrated followed in November. Horst and Ilse sold their deli and followed in 1948. Horst changed his name to Harry, and they settled near their families in Brooklyn, New York. Ilse got a job as a manicurist, while Harry worked in a meatpacking factory owned by distant relatives. In 1951, they had a son, Stephen.

The prayer book was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Ruth Abraham, the daughter of Ilse and Horst Abraham.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ruth Abraham