Button pin calling for humanitarian support

Identifier
irn7085
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1992.68.3
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
  • Hebrew
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: | Diameter: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm)

Creator(s)

Archival History

The pin was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1992.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection

Scope and Content

Pin-back button, manufactured by the Whitehead & Hoag Company (W&H) in Newark, New Jersey. The central image is based on a 1915 bronze sculpture by Jules Louis (Leon) Butensky titled “Goles” (Yiddish for diaspora) and known as “Exile” in English. Button pins were used to rally support for a variety of causes, and similar buttons were commissioned by the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War and for a Relief Ball in March 1916. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, increased antisemitism, rapid modernization, and deepening economic problems led a large proportion of the Jewish population to emigrate from Eastern Europe. By the time World War I broke out in 1914, Jewish emigres exceeded 3.5 million. Many Jews living in the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires in Eastern Europe were displaced due to military campaigns, and fled to other countries to escape persecution. After the war, the United States became increasingly isolationist, with the Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924 severely restricted the number of refugees that could enter the country. In the decade leading up to World War II, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party’s increasing persecution and suppression of Jewish rights led more Jews to flee Germany. However, the strict quotas and the growing anti-immigrant sentiment limited the number of Jewish refugees able to immigrate to the United States. Jewish leaders employed a variety of overt and behind-the-scenes tactics to encourage the American government to take action, but the majority of citizens continued to oppose allowing refugees into the country.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Circular, paper covered, metal pin-back button. In the center, printed in medium blue ink, is a man holding a child and carrying a sack. The figures are set inside a cream-colored ellipse, within a circular, dark blue border, and a solid blue filling the rest of the circular space. A red, white, and blue American flag is split between the left and right sides of the frame. The top of the frame has a line of Hebrew text printed in dark blue ink on a silver-colored, metallic background, and a row of beading in silver over a dark blue background. The bottom of the frame has a similar row of beading above a line of English text, printed in dark blue over the silver background. The recessed metal backing has an inset straight pin, and an off-white paper backing with the manufacturer information and a union seal printed in black.

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.