Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 161 to 180 of 6,679
Holding Institution: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  1. Star of David patch worn by a German Jewish concentration camp inmate

    1. Alice and John Fink collection

    Judenstern badge worn by Hans Finke, a concentration camp survivor who became an aid worker after the war. Hans, his parents and his sister Ursula lived in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi dictatorship in 1933 with its aggressive anti-Jewish policies. Jews were forced out of their jobs and their businesses were confiscated. In February 1943, Hans, 23, an electrician by trade, was a forced laborer for Siemens when he was hospitalized with appendicitis. On February 29, his parents were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. On March 8, the Gestapo raided the hospital and arrested staff and p...

  2. Concentration camp uniform pants with red triangle patch worn by Polish Jewish inmate

    1. Marek Watnicki collection

    Striped blue and gray concentration uniform pants worn by Mieczyslaw Watnicki in Auschwitz concentration camp from late 1940 until his liberation in Germany in May 1945. The pants have a red inverted triangle badge with the letter P on the upper left thigh. This would indicate that Mieczyslaw was a Polish political prisoner. After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Mieczyslaw lived in Warsaw under a false identity as a non-Jew. He was arrested in late 1940 for falsifying identity papers, but the Gestapo did not discover that he was Jewish. He was sent to Auschwitz as a Polish politic...

  3. Monogrammed silver ladle brought with a German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    Large, silver ladle engraved with Ernestine Unger Wiesenthal’s initials and taken with her when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany, to London, England in 1939. The long stem suggests that this ladle was used to serve liquids from deep dishes, and the fiddlehead shape of the handle was very popular in the 1800s. The maker’s mark might refer to Emil Harnisch, and the 12 Lothian silver purity mark on the back suggests this piece was made prior to the 1888 change in German silver marks. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Following the passage of the Nuremberg l...

  4. Albert Dov Sigal small red and green colored etching of a couple standing with heads touching next to a seated dejected man with a crown

    1. Albert Dov Sigal collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn5781
    • English
    • 1948-1958
    • overall: Height: 11.000 inches (27.94 cm) | Width: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) pictorial area: Height: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm) | Width: 2.875 inches (7.303 cm)

    Etched print created by Albert Dov Sigal when he lived in Israel from 1948-1958. It presents David standing with Michal, Saul's daughter, their heads touching; her arm is across his chest and he holds a lyre. Next to them is a downcast, bearded King Saul seated in a large chair. This is a preparatory drawing for a copper engraving. It is similar to the watercolor sketch, 1992.113.9. In 1939, Sigal was arrested by the fascist, antisemitic Romanian government and assigned to a forced labor battalion that repaired and built roads and railways. He started an underground art school with a group ...

  5. Peach floral printed chemise saved by a Hungarian Jewish refugee

    1. Bela Gondos family collection

    Floral printed silk slip custom made for Anna Havas Gondos and taken with her when she was deported from Budapest, Hungary to Bergen-Belsen on the Kasztner train with her husband Bela and 7 year old daughter Judit in June 1944. The family brought their best clothing since they believed they were going to Portugal. Jews were increasingly persecuted by the Nazi-influenced Hungarian regime. Bela worked on 2 or 3 forced labor battalions until released in 1942 because he was a physician. On March 19, 1944, Germany invaded Hungary and the authorities prepared to deport all the Jews from Hungary t...

  6. Albert Dov Sigal boldly colored watercolor sketch of a seated king gazing in sorrow at a couple standing before him

    1. Albert Dov Sigal collection

    Watercolor painting created by Albert Dov Sigal when he lived in Israel from 1948-1958. It depicts King Saul seated in his throne staring at a couple, David and Michal, Saul's daughter, standing before him. Michal's arm is across David's chest; he holds a lyre; her look is beseeching, his is cold and distant. It is a preparatory sketch for an enamel. In 1939, Sigal was arrested by the fascist, antisemitic Romanian government and assigned to a forced labor battalion that repaired and built roads and railways. He started an underground art school with a group of friends and was active in the ...

  7. Decorated porcelain teacup saved by a German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    Meissen, ivy-patterned teacup brought with Gertrude Wiesenthal when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany. In March 1939, Gertrude joined her husband, Fritz, and daughters, Illa and Nellie, in the United States. The teacup bears the Meissen, crossed swords maker’s mark and the number 44 beneath, which may be a date stamp indicating it was produced in 1844. Pieces bearing the ivy pattern are often accented with gold lines, and the lack of those here may suggest that this is a factory second, which Gertrude enjoyed acquiring. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. F...

  8. Albert Dov Sigal woodcut richly colored in white and golden browns featuring a woman in a heavy white robe presenting gifts to a king

    1. Albert Dov Sigal collection

    Woodcut created by Albert Dov Sigal in 1964 depicting a densely colored image of the Queen of Sheba, covered with a long white robe and veil, with attendants presenting gifts to King Solomon, who stands on a red raised platform. In 1939, Sigal was arrested by the fascist, antisemitic Romanian government and assigned to a forced labor battalion that repaired and built roads and railways. He started an underground art school with a group of friends and was active in the Romanian resistance. On December 27, 1947, he and his family sailed from Burgas, Bulgaria, towards Palestine aboard the Aliy...

  9. Albert Dov Sigal watercolor sketch of a man in tattered clothes with a large green and purple fish floating above with a pencil sketch on the reverse

    1. Albert Dov Sigal collection

    Watercolor sketch created by Albert Dov Sigal in 1964 with an image of Jonah lying on a beach, eyes closed in anguish; above and behind him is an abstract image of a whale floating in the green and purple sky. This is a preparatory sketch for an enamel. There are sketched scenes of Bathsheba in her bath on the reverse. In 1939, Sigal was arrested by the fascist, antisemitic Romanian government and assigned to a forced labor battalion that repaired and built roads and railways. He started an underground art school with a group of friends and was active in the Romanian resistance. On December...

  10. Albert Dov Sigal watercolor sketch of a bearded man leading one group of people through a parted sea while others float away

    1. Albert Dov Sigal collection

    Watercolor sketch created by Albert Dov Sigal when he lived in Israel from 1948-1958. It depicts Moses leading his people through the parted Red Sea as soldiers and chariots float in the background where the sea has closed. This is a preparatory sketch for a large oil painting. In 1939, Sigal was arrested by the fascist, antisemitic Romanian government and assigned to a forced labor battalion that repaired and built roads and railways. He started an underground art school with a group of friends and was active in the Romanian resistance. On December 27, 1947, he and his family sailed from B...

  11. Joseph W. Eaton papers

    1. Joseph W. Eaton collection

    The Joseph W. Eaton papers document Eaton’s service in the Psychological Warfare Division of the 12th United States Army Group from 1943 to 1945. They include photograph albums and Allied and German press photographs; reports on the latter stages of the war and the postwar situation in Germany; correspondence regarding concentration camp survivors, displaced persons, and other matters of interest to Eaton; subject and research files on topics such as German cities, concentration camps, displaced persons camps, Camp Ritchie, the Psychological Warfare Division, and Radio Luxembourg; newspaper...

  12. Albert Dov Sigal unfinished watercolor sketch of a king in red robes seated on his throne in an ornately decorated and colored interior

    1. Albert Dov Sigal collection

    Watercolor painting created by Albert Dov Sigal when he lived in Israel from 1948-1959. It depicts King Solomon in red robes seated on his throne being fanned by a black servant while other unfinished figures kneel nearby. The richly decorated interior is brightly colored in oranges, blues, and greens. In 1939, Sigal was arrested by the fascist, antisemitic Romanian government and assigned to a forced labor battalion that repaired and built roads and railways. He started an underground art school with a group of friends and was active in the Romanian resistance. On December 27, 1947, he and...

  13. Kovary and Neuhaus families papers

    1. Kovary and Neuhaus families collection

    The Kovary and Neuhaus families papers consist of biographical materials, correspondence, and photographs related to the experiences of the Kovary and Neuhaus families’ pre-World War II experiences in Czechoslovakia and Germany, respectively; their emigration due to antisemitic persecution; their immigration to the United States and Great Britain; and subsequent experiences during World War II and in the immediate post-war years. The collection also includes restitution files documenting Ernest Kovary’s work assisting Holocaust survivors in filing restitution claims. Neuhaus family material...

  14. Jewish Relief Unit Star of David pin worn by a German Jewish nurse working in a DP camp

    1. Alice and John Fink collection

    Jewish Relief Unit pin worn by Alice Redlich while she served as a nurse at the displaced persons camp established in the former concentration camp in Germany after the war. The British army liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945, and it then became a DP camp. Alice and her family were German Jews living in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi dictatorship. In 1938, 18 year old Alice left for England to continue her nurse's training. She volunteered with the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad and, in September 1946, she left for the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp to care for children...

  15. Glass bottle of purple stamp ink used by a Dutch resistance member to forge identity cards

    1. Gerry van Heel collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn42639
    • English
    • a: Height: 2.875 inches (7.302 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Depth: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) b: Diameter: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) c: Diameter: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm)

    Glass bottle of purple ink used by Gerry van Heel to forge documents for the Dutch resistance and for Jewish people living in hiding in Eindhoven, Holland. On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. By summer 1942, the Germans were deporting Jews to concentration camps. Gerry and his wife Molly aided resistance efforts by hiding wounded English pilots, Dutch Army officers, and Jews. In the fall of 1942, Molly urged her friend, Dora Kann, to go into hiding. Molly and Gerald hid Dora's young daughters, 12 year old Elise and 8 year old Judith; their brothers, 14 year old Otto and 5 year...

  16. Blanket issued to a Jewish refugee in Shanghai

    1. Ernest G. Heppner collection

    Blanket issued to Ernst (Ernest) Heppner in Shanghai, China, by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in August 1945. Ernst was living in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), with his parents, Isidor and Hilda, his half-sister, Else, and near his half-brother, Heinz. Following the Kristallnacht program in November 1938, and Heinz’s subsequent arrest, the family began looking at emigration options. Eighteen-year-old Ernst and his mother secured passage on a ship to Shanghai, China, where they arrived in March 1939. Ernst soon got a job working for a toy store...

  17. Albert Dov Sigal watercolor of a giant man with a shield, sword, and spear threatening an unarmed youth

    1. Albert Dov Sigal collection

    Watercolor sketch created by Albert Dov Sigal when he lived in Israel from 1948-1958. It depicts a Goliath, a large bearded man in a keffiyah, chestplate, and orange striped skirt threatening David, an unarmed youth in a white tunic standing, hands on hips, next to a small pile of rocks. In 1939, Sigal was arrested by the fascist, antisemitic Romanian government and assigned to a forced labor battalion that repaired and built roads and railways. He started an underground art school with a group of friends and was active in the Romanian resistance. On December 27, 1947, he and his family sai...

  18. Monogrammed dinner knife brought with German Jewish prewar refugee

    1. Nellie Wiesenthal Fink family collection

    Dinner knife engraved with Ernestine Unger Wiesenthal’s initials and taken with her when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany, to London, England in 1939. The threaded design and script used for the initials resemble those elements on the ladle (.4) in this collection, and matches another knife from the same donor (2012.493.4). The knife is not part of the same set as the ladle, and the handle is likely made of silver, though it does not bear any marks to verify that. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Following the passage of the Nuremberg laws in 1935, Erne...

  19. Gerald Schwab papers

    1. Gerald Schwab collection

    The Gerald Schwab papers document Schwab’s work for the International Military Tribunal following World War II; research for his books The Day the Holocaust Began: The Odyssey of Herschel Grynszpan and OSS Agents in Hitler's Heartland: Destination Innsbruck; his efforts to receive restitutions for Holocaust-era losses; biographical, genealogical, and photographic materials documenting Schwab and his family; and audiovisual and electronic records documenting Schwab’s interests in Holocaust-era topics. International Military Tribunal records include trial documents, photographs and illustrati...

  20. Large ink pad in a metal box used by a Dutch resistance member to forge identity cards

    1. Gerry van Heel collection

    Large stamp pad in a metal container used by Gerry van Heel to forge documents for the Dutch resistance and for Jewish people living in hiding in Eindhoven, Holland. On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. By summer 1942, the Germans were deporting Jews to concentration camps. Gerry and his wife Molly aided resistance efforts by hiding wounded English pilots, Dutch Army officers, and Jews. In the fall of 1942, Molly urged her friend, Dora Kann, to go into hiding. Molly and Gerald hid Dora's young daughters, 12 year old Elise and 8 year old Judith; their brothers, 14 year old Otto ...