Hanukkah menorah with fish shaped feet that was used in the Tarnow Ghetto

Hanukiyah used in the Tarnow ghetto between March 1941 and September 1943. This Hanukiyah is an industrial menorah similar in design and composition to several made by Johannes Rominger in Stuttgart, Germany. A Hanukkah candelabrum holds eight candles for the eight nights of Hanukkah; the ninth candle is the Shamash [attendant] that is used to light the other candles. Because of their religious significance, the Hanukkah lights cannot be used for everyday needs, such as providing light. Traditionally, menorah refers only to the original seven branched lamp that stayed lit in the Temple; the nine branched candelabrum is a hanukiyah or Hanukkah lamp. Tarnow, Poland, was occupied by Nazi Germany in September 1939. Jews were placed under heavy restrictions, were forced to turn over their valuables, and were required to wear Stars of David to identify themselves. In March 1941, a Jewish ghetto was established in Tarnow, and 3 months later it was sealed off from the rest of the city. There was very little food in the overcrowded ghetto and Jews were regularly rounded up to serve in forced labor details. In June 1942, German authorities began deporting Jews to Belzec killing center and rounding up 7,000 others to be shot in the Jewish cemetery and the nearby forest as part of a large Aktion. In September 1943, the remaining 10,000 Jews in Tarnow were transported to Auschwitz and Płaszów concentrations camps and the city was declared “free of Jews.”