Denk fix! [Think Quick] game turntable spinner, cards, and box brought with a young German Jewish refugee
Extent and Medium
a: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 7.750 inches (19.685 cm) | Depth: 5.375 inches (13.653 cm)
b: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Depth: 5.375 inches (13.653 cm)
c: Height: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Diameter: 3.875 inches (9.843 cm)
d: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Diameter: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm)
e: Height: 6.000 inches (15.24 cm) | Width: 8.125 inches (20.638 cm)
f-ba: Height: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm)
Creator(s)
- J.W. Spear & Sohne, Nurnberg (Manufacturer)
- Anneliese C. Marx (Subject)
Biographical History
Anneliese Centawer was born on January 10, 1930, to James and Recha Huetzler (Hützler) Centawer in Nuremberg, Germany. Her mother Recha was born on June 23, 1891, in Huettenbach, Germany, to Moritz (1840-1922) and Amalie Selig Huetzler (1857-1918.) Recha had four younger brothers and nine half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Babette Talman. Recha was part of a very wealthy and large, extended family which owned several department stores and extensive financial holdings. Several family members immigrated to the United States in the 1880s. Recha’s father was a cattle dealer. Anneliese’s father James was born on July 21, 1888, in Nuremburg to Moritz (1830-1920) and Marie Gutmann Centawer (1854-1932.) His father operated a shoestore. James had a sister Henriette. James was a lieutenant in the German Army during World War I (1914-1918.) He then became the European trade representative for an electrical company that manufactured transformers. James and Recha married on August 17, 1924, and settled in Nuremberg. After the January 1933 appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, the Nazi dictatorship enacted plans to persecute Jews and exclude them from German society. Anneliese attended the Israelitsche Folkshul and was taught German and Jewish subjects. Antisemitism increased and, on one occasion, Anneliese was beaten by a member of the Hitler Youth who, because of her red hair and freckles, accused Anneliese of trying to pretend to be a German. In 1936, the family had to move because their block was declared Judenfrei [Free of Jews.] In March 1938, with sponsorship by three of Recha's half-siblings in the US, the family received American visas. Anneliese and her parents sailed from Hamburg on the Manhattan and arrived on July 7, 1938, in New York. The family settled in the Bronx in New York City. During the war, Anneliese’s father James worked for the US Office of War Information in the censorship bureau and then for the US Treasury Department. They learned that three of Recha's half-siblings: Ida, Leopold, and Siegmund Huetzler, perished during the Holocaust. James’s sister Henrietta is believed to have been killed in a concentration camp gas chamber. Anneliese graduated from Hunter College High School and received a cum laude degree from Hunter College in 1951. On August 26 of the same year, she married Gunther Marx. Gunther, born in 1926, in Remscheid, Germany, had fled to England, and then to America with his parents in 1939. He was a sergeant in the US Army during the war, from 1944-1946. The couple had a son. Anneliese pursued a career in public relations and was a corporate management consultant. Her mother Recha, 79, passed away on June 22, 1970. Her father James, 87, died on January 26, 1976.
Archival History
The game was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Anneliese Marx.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Anneliese C. Marx
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
Denk Fix! [Think Quick!] card and question/answer game with spinner brought with 8 year old Anneliese Centawer when she and her parents James and Recha fled Nazi Germany in July 1938. After Hitler and the Nazi regime's seizure of power in 1933, the Jewish population was subjected to increasingly harsh persecution. In 1936, Anneliese's family was forced to move from their home in Nuremberg when their block was declared Judenfrei (Free of Jews.) Anneliese was beaten up on the street by a Hitler Youth who accused the freckled, red haired girl of trying to pass for German. In July 1938, with sponsorship from Recha's half-siblings in the US, the family arrived in New York.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
a. Rectangular, light brown, telescoping cardboard box lid for base (b) with the exterior covered in treated orange paper with a colorful image of a boy playing this game with a man and a woman on a white table. German text is printed below the image and on the box sides. The interior has game instructions in German fraktur text on the left and a game advertisement on the right. b. Rectangular, light brown, telescoping cardboard box base for lid (a) with the exterior sides covered with treated white paper. The interior has a vertical white painted wooden partition creating a large square on the right to store the turntable and disc. The left side has a raised cardboard insert and is subdivided by 2 short, horizontal white painted wooden panels creating 3 sections for the cards. c. Circular, turned, wooden turntable with curved sides and a flat top with a short silver colored metal rod inserted in the center. A circle of glossy paper, with a center hole to fit over the rod, is adhered to the top. The paper has a large, white center circle, a yellow double banded circle enclosing the alphabet in yellow boxes, on a light blue field that extends into an outer circle. d. Circular, cardboard, spinner disc with a silver colored, ridged metal rod attached to the center. The disc is covered with glossy paper printed with concentric red, white, blue, and yellow circles. There is a rectangular cutout on 1 side, with a small black arrow on the outer edge pointing toward it. The rod on the disc fits over the turntable (c) rod. e. Rectangular, paper enclosure advertising a game called DER PURZELTURM [The Topple Tower], with an image of a tower with blocks on the right. On the right are several paragraphs of German text. f-ba. 48 small, rectangular, glossy, white paper playing cards. Each card has a question or answer printed in German in dark blue ink in the center. The back has a repeating phrase SPEARS DENKE-FIX in dark blue ink on a light blue field. f. Berg oder Gebirge. [Mountain or mountains.] g. Dichter oder / Schriftsteller. [Poet or author.] h. Ein Handwerkszeug. [A hand tool.] i. Ein Hausgerat. [A household appliance.] j. Ein Haustier. [A pet.] k. Ein Kleidungsstuck. [An article of clothing.] l. Ein Land. [A country.] m. Ein Musikinstrument. [A musical instrument.] n. Ein Naturprodukt. [A natural product.] o. Ein Spiel. [A game.] p. Ein Verkehrsmittel. [A means of transport.] q. Ein wildes Tier. [A wild animal.] r. Ein Wort aus der Elektrotechnik. [A word from electrical engineering.] s. Ein Wort, das ein neues ergibt, wenn der erste Buchstabe fortfallt. (Bruder). [A word that makes a new one, if the first letter is eliminated. (Brother, becomes the word for rudder in German when the B is dropped). t. Ein Wort, das ein neues ergibt, wenn der letzte Buchstabe fortfallt. (Pappel). [A word that makes a new one, if the last letter is eliminated. (Poplar, becomes the word for apple in German when the P is dropped). u. Ein Wort, das man vorwarts und ruckwarts lessen kann. (Regal.) [A word that you can read forwards and backwards. (Shelf, can become many words in German when read backwards.) v. Ein Wort mit „ling“. [A word with “ling”.] w. Eine andere Bezeichnung fur Mund. [Another name for mouth.] x. Eine Blume. [A flower.] y. Eine Farbe. [A color.] z. Eine Naturerscheinung. [A natural phenomenon.] aa. Eine Sprache. [A language.] ab. Eine Tugend. [A virtue.] ac. Einen Fisch. [A fish.] ad. Einen Fluss. [A river.] ae. Einen See. [A lake.] af. Einen Stadtenamen. [A city name.] ag. Einen Teil vom menschlichen Korper. [A part of the human body.] ah. Etwas aus diesem Zimmer. [Something out of this room.] ai. Gebaude oder einen Teil desselben. [Building or a part thereof.] aj. Maler oder Bildhauer. [Painter or sculptor.] ak. Vor was furchtest Du Dich? [What are you afraid of?] al. Was braucht der Schneider? [What does the tailor need?] am. Was gibt es bei den Soldaten? [What is given to soldiers?] an. Was mochtest Du werden? [What do you want to be?] ao. Was isst Du gern? [What do you like to eat?] ap. Was sieht man auf dem Spazierweg? [What do you see on a walk?] aq. Was trinkst Du gern? [What do you like to drink?] ar. Was tut die Hausfrau? [What does the housewife do?] as. Was wunschest Du Deinem Nachbar? [What do you want from your neighbor?] at. Was wunschest Du Dir? [What do you want?] au. Welchen Namen gibst Du Deinem Kinde? [What name did you give your child?] av. Welches Gefuhl hast Du eben? [How do you feel right now?] aw. Wen mochtest Du verprugeln? [Who do you want to hit?] ax. Wen oder was liebst Du sehr? [Who or what do you love very much?] y. Wer order was fliegt? [Who or what is flying?] az. Wie soll man nicht sein? [How should one not be?] ba. Wohin mochtest Du reisen? [Where do you want to travel to?]
Subjects
- Emigration and immigration--United States--Biography.
- Popular culture--Germany--History--20th century.
- Jewish refugees--United States--Biography.
- Emigration and immigration--Germany--Nuremberg--Biography.
- Jews--Germany--Nuremberg--Biography.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--Germany--Nuremberg--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Nuremberg--Personal narratives.
Genre
- Toys
- Object