Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 301 to 320 of 3,219
Language of Description: German
Language of Description: English
  1. Embroidered priest's stole owned by a German Jewish refugee

    1. Richard Pfifferling and Ruth Pfifferling Knox family collection

    Catholic priest's vestment with French style spade ends owned by Richard Pfifferling. Richard was Jewish and how and when he acquired the stole is not known. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power and enacted laws that persecuted Jews. Richard and his brothers, Otto and Ernst, fled Dresden, Germany; his brothers to England and Argentina and Richard, in September 1939, to the United States. Their parents, Alexander and Auguste, were unable to leave. Richard later served in the US Army during the war. Richard’s parents were deported to Riga, Latvia, in December 1941, and killed in Auschwitz i...

  2. Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 1 krone note

    1. Elizabeth Trausel family collection

    Scrip valued at 1 krone acquired by to Elisabeth (Liese) Trausel who was imprisoned in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp from fall 1944 until liberation in May 1945. Liese lived in Prague when it was invaded in March 1939, by Germany and made part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The authorities passed new anti-Jewish regulations that severely restricted Liese’s daily life. In September, Germany invaded neighboring Poland. In September 1941, Liese was required to wear a yellow Star of David badge at all times to identify herself as Jewish. Later that month, Reinhard Heydrich becam...

  3. Baksztanska and Sierpinski families papers

    The Baksztanska and Sierpinski families papers include biographical material and photographs relating to the pre-war and wartime experiences of Wiera Baksztanska, Stanisław Sierpinski, and their families in Poland and Russia. The collection includes false identity papers and documents Wiera obtained while living in the Warsaw ghetto and in hiding as well as correspondence and writings relating to Stanisław’s work as a physician in the Polish underground. Biographical material includes a false identity card (Kennkarte) for Wiera under the name of Zofia Weronika Wojtuńska, certificates statin...

  4. Pametni Medaile Ceskoslovenska Armada V Zahranici (Czechoslovak Army Abroad) awarded to a Czech Jewish soldier

    1. Frank Meissner collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn44079
    • English
    • 1939-1945
    • a: Height: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm) | Width: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm) b: Height: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) | Width: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm)

    Commemorative medal for the Czechoslovak Army Abroad 1939-1945 with ribbon and pin awarded to Franz Meissner for his service from 1944-1945 with the Czech Air Force for the government in exile based in Great Britain. The medal was awarded to those Czechoslovaks who were outside their country at the time of the German invasion, or subsequently escaped abroad, and joined Allied forces or all-Czechoslovak units. Franz arrived in England in September 1944. He was told that if he wanted refuge and a Czech passport, he had to volunteer for the Czech government in exile army. He served in the Roya...

  5. Nazi Party Labor Day pin given to a US soldier by Hermann Göring

    Nazi Party Labor Day 1934 pin, likely given to Lieutenant Jack Wheelis by Herman Göring during his imprisonment at Nuremberg from 1945-1946. Labor Day (also known as May Day) takes place on May 1 to celebrate laborers and the working classes. In April 1933, after the Nazi party took control of the German government, May 1 was appropriated as the “Day of National Work,” with all celebrations organized by the government. On May 2, the Nazi party banned all independent trade-unions, bringing them under state control of the German Labor Front. Soon after the defeat of Nazi Germany in May 1945,...

  6. Concentration camp uniform jacket with a purple triangle worn by a Jehovah’s Witness inmate

    1. Anonymous Jehovah’s Witness collection

    Concentration camp uniform jacket worn by a male Jehovah’s Witness who was imprisoned in Buchenwald and Flossenbürg concentration camps from October 25, 1939, to May 8, 1945. It has a white patch with his Flossenbürg prisoner number, 38641, beside a purple triangle marking him as a Jehovah’s Witness. The Nazi regime persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to put any authority before God or serve in the military. In mid-September 1937, he was imprisoned by the Gestapo for leading the local Jehovah’s Witness group, whose activities were considered subversive activity against the Nazi regi...

  7. Lantern and candle used by a Sinti family

    1. Gabriel Reinhardt and Theresia Winterstein families collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn517652
    • English
    • 1945-1955
    • a: Height: 7.750 inches (19.685 cm) | Width: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Depth: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) b: Height: 2.370 inches (6.02 cm) | Diameter: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm)

    Lantern used by Theresia Winterstein Reinhardt and her family when they lived in a Sinti camp in Germany after World War II. It could be hung on their wagon or carried by hand. The family had traveled widely until the Nazi regime restricted Sinti migrations in the 1930s. Theresia met Gabriel Reinhardt in 1941 when they both worked at the Stadttheater in Wurzburg. Persecution of the Sinti was escalating. They were no longer allowed to work at the theater. Several members of Theresia's family were forced to agree to sterilization. Theresia and Gabriel decided to have a child, and when Theresi...

  8. Concentration camp uniform coat with a purple triangle worn by a Jehovah’s Witness inmate

    1. Anonymous Jehovah’s Witness collection

    Concentration camp uniform overcoat worn by a male Jehovah’s Witness who was imprisoned in Buchenwald and Flossenbürg concentration camps from October 25, 1939, to May 8, 1945. It has a white patch with his Flossenbürg prisoner number, 38641, beside a purple triangle marking him as a Jehovah’s Witness. The Nazi regime persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to put any authority before God or serve in the military. In mid-September 1937, he was imprisoned by the Gestapo for leading the local Jehovah’s Witness group, whose activities were viewed as subversive activity against the Nazi reg...

  9. White silk tallit with black stripes brought with a German Jewish refugee

    1. Richard Pfifferling and Ruth Pfifferling Knox family collection

    White silk tallit with black stripes brought with Richard Pfifferling when he left Dresden, Germany, for New York in September 1939. Richard received the tallit, or prayer shawl, and other religious items as a gift for his bar mitzvah circa 1927. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power and enacted laws that persecuted Jews. Richard and his brothers, Otto and Ernst, fled Germany but their parents, Alexander and Auguste, were unable to leave. Richard later served in the US Army during the war. Richard’s parents were deported to Riga, Latvia, in December 1941, and killed in Auschwitz in August ...

  10. Dried flowers kept within a memorial book saved by a Hungarian Jewish family while in hiding

    1. George Pick family collection

    Dried flowers preserved from the July 1935 funeral of Samu Kornhauser by his widow Malvina. She pressed the flowers in the memorial book, Kegyelet, the widow's prayer book, between pages 10 and 11. The book is record 1999.282.3. The book was preserved during World War II by Malvina, her daughter Margit Pick, her husband Istvan and son Gyorgy. Malvina, ten year old Gyorgy, and his parents lived in hiding in Budapest, Hungary, from November 1944-January 1945. Hungary, an ally of Nazi Germany, had adopted similar anti-Jewish laws in the 1930s.Istvan, an engineer, lost his job in May 1939 becau...

  11. Woodcut portrait of Leo Baeck owned by a Jewish Polish girl

    1. Julie Keefer family collection

    Woodcut portrait of Leo Baeck, owned by Julie Keefer, a Jewish Polish girl who was in hiding during the Holocaust with her grandfather. Baeck was a Rabbi and intellectual theologian who emerged as an important symbolic and political leader of German Jewry before and during World War II. Baeck helped other Jews emigrate from Germany and fought for Jewish rights. In 1943 he was deported to Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto labor camp, where he gave lectures on philosophy and religion and became a leader among the camp’s Jews. In June 1941, when Julie was two months old, her hometown, Lvov, Pola...

  12. WWI Iron Cross medal awarded to a German Jewish veteran

    1. Maier Firnbacher family collection

    Iron Cross awarded to Maier Firnbacher for bravery while serving in the German Army during World War I; it was issued in 1934. Maier was a cattle trader in Straubing, Germany, when Hitler came to power in 1933. Jews were forbidden to practice certain professions and in 1936, Maier's trading license was revoked. In 1938, he was forced to sell his farmland at a loss to a non-Jew. He got immigration visas for the United States for himself, his wife, Ida, and their 8 year old son, Manfred, but was arrested during Kristallnacht on November 10. He was released after three weeks in Dachau concentr...

  13. GBA

    1. Staatliche und parteiamtliche Akten bis 1945
    2. Deutsches Reich (bis 1945)
    3. Arbeit, Soziales
    4. Reichsarbeitsministerium

    I. Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz (GBA)/ Hauptabteilung VI: Varia, 1938-1945 (RWM/19a): 1) Rundschreiben Reichsministerium und Chef der Reichskanzlei vom 18. Oktober 1942: Anerkennung der territorialen Veränderungen von Seiten des Vatikan erst nach Friedensschluss; Deshalb Entgegennahme von Interventionen des Vatikan nur für das Gebiet des Altreiches, 8112-8114; 2) Vermerk GBA (Ministerialrat Dr. Hildebrandt) über Sauckels Dienstreise nach Paris, Brüssel und Den Haag, Januar 1943; Bereitstellung von französischen Fach- und Hilfskräften für die deutschen Rüstungsbetriebe; Fre...

  14. Public transport pass and identification tag issued to a Roman Catholic Polish youth

    1. Hermanowski family collection

    Leather tag with an identification card and public transport pass for July 1944, issued to Wojciech Hermanowski. Wojciech was a Roman Catholic boy living with his parents, Jan and Stanislawa, and his older brother, Andrzej, in Warsaw, Poland, when the German army invaded on September 1, 1939. Wojciech was no longer allowed to go to school, so he began attending trade school and took general classes in secret. In February 1943, Andrzej was arrested as part of the underground resistance, and later transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. On August 1, 1944, the city’s underground resistanc...

  15. Silver metal cable link chain used to hold sports medals awarded to a German Jewish deaf-mute athlete

    1. Max Feld and Rose Feld-Rosman collection

    Chain used by the Feld family to hold sports medals awarded to Max Feld. Max competed in several deaf-mute athletic competitions in the 1930s in Berlin and Paris. In 1938, he left Germany for Paris to be with Raisa Steinberg, whom he had met when they were students at the Israelite School for the Deaf in Berlin. They married in 1939, and had a daughter, Esther, in 1940. Paris was occupied by the Germans in the summer of 1940 and foreign Jews were targeted for arrest. In May 1941, Max was sent to Beaune-la-Rolande interment camp; in July 1942, he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentrat...

  16. White wool tallit with black stripes brought with a German Jewish refugee

    1. Richard Pfifferling and Ruth Pfifferling Knox family collection

    White wool tallit with black stripes brought with Richard Pfifferling when he left from Dresden, Germany, for New York in September 1939. Richard received the tallit, or prayer shawl, and other religious items as a gift for his bar mitzvah circa 1927. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power and enacted laws that persecuted Jews. Richard and his brothers, Otto and Ernst, fled Germany but their parents, Alexander and Auguste, were unable to leave. Richard later served in the US Army during the war. Richard’s parents were deported to Riga, Latvia, in December 1941, and killed in Auschwitz in Au...

  17. Wellisch and Auerbach families papers

    1. Kurt and Frieda Wellisch and Ignaz and Rosine Auerbach collection

    Biographical materials primarily document Ignatz and Rosine Auerbach and Kurt and Frieda Wellisch. Auerbach records include Rosine’s birth certificate and a transport list, Łódź ghetto records, and AJDC records documenting Rosine’s and Ignatz’s deportation from Vienna to Łódź. Wellisch records include records documenting Frieda’s education and employment, a copy of her Third Reich passport, a confirmation of her birth, a copy of Kurt’s and Frieda’s marriage certificate, and a copy of a photograph of the couple aboard the Rex en route to New York. This series also includes a 1925 letter from...

  18. Pair of tefillin with an embroidered green velvet bag used by a Czech Jewish refugee

    1. Frank Meissner family collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn37631
    • English
    • a: Height: 6.250 inches (15.875 cm) | Width: 7.000 inches (17.78 cm) b: Height: 4.750 inches (12.065 cm) | Width: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) c: Height: 9.250 inches (23.495 cm) | Width: 5.500 inches (13.97 cm)

    Tefillin set and green velvet storage pouch used by Franz Meissner who left Czechoslovakia for Denmark in October 1939. Tefillin are small boxes that contain prayers that are attached to leather straps and worn by Orthodox Jewish males during morning prayers. Franz, age 16, left Trest in October 1939 because of the increasing persecution of Jews as Czechoslovakia was dismembered by Nazi Germany and its allies. With the encouragement of his family, he left for Denmark with Youth Aliyah, a organization that helped people to emigrate to Palestine. In 1943, the Germans began to deport all Jews ...

  19. Watercolor painting of a crowd gathered in front of a decorative building in Vittel internment camp acquired by an American internee

    1. Leonie Roualet collection

    Watercolor painting of the package line in Vittel internment camp in German-occupied France, originally owned by Gertrude Hamilton and eventually given to Leonie Roualet. Gertrude and Leonie became friends while interned together in Vittel. Both women were from the United States, but were living in France when Germany invaded in May 1940. Leonie was taking care of ailing relatives, while Gertrude worked as an ambulance driver for the American Hospital in Paris. In July 1941, Gertrude started working for the bureau for civilians set up by the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), where s...

  20. Drawing of a man at a spinning wheel done in hiding by a Dutch Jewish man

    1. Abraham Rijksman collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn47222
    • English
    • pictorial area: Height: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Width: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm) overall: Height: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm) | Width: 13.375 inches (33.973 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm)

    Colored pencil drawing of Mr. de Lintrekker working at a spinning wheel in a Dutch family’s farmhouse near Genum (Ginnum), Netherlands, created by Abraham Rijksman while in hiding on January 10, 1944. Abraham and his family lived in Amsterdam when German forces occupied the Netherlands in May 1940. His family members were all arrested and deported between October 1942 and May 1943. Abraham was arrested in August 1943, and escaped twice from transport trains to Westerbork transit camp. The second time, he escaped with a pregnant woman, whose friend gave Abraham money to travel north to Fries...