Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 1,661 to 1,680 of 1,698
Holding Institution: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  1. 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...

  2. White, monogrammed tablecloth belonging to the family of a German Rabbi

    1. Rabbi Georg and Martha Wilde collection

    Finely woven, linen tablecloth, embroidered with the initials of Martha Wilde, wife of Rabbi Georg Wilde, who fled Germany in 1939. Rabbi Dr. Georg Wilde attended the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), and received a doctorate in 1901. He married Breslau-born Martha Spitz, and the couple moved to Magdeburg. In 1906, Georg began serving as rabbi for the largest of Magdeburg’s three congregations, the Synagogen-Gemeinde zu Magdeburg. During World War I, Georg served as a field rabbi and presided over both Jewish and interfaith burials. While in Magdeburg, G...

  3. Wiener family photographs

    1. Jacob G. Wiener collection

    Consists of 23 pre-war and wartime photographs of members of the family of Rabbi Jacob Wiener [Gerd Zwienicki] in Germany. Included are class photographs of the yeshiva of Rabbi Breuer in Frankfurt in the 1930s.

  4. William A. Grab Jr. collection

    The William A. Grab Jr. collection is comprised of papers pertaining to Thaddaus Zalewski and Paul Flohr, both prisoners held by the Nazis during the Holocaust and collected by William A. Grab, a veteran of the United States Army. The Thaddaus Zalewski papers include four letters written by Thaddaus during his incarceration in Dachau between 1943 and 1944. The letters were sent to a family member living in East Prussia. The material pertaining to Paul Flohr includes various identification papers and membership cards. Included among them are membership cards for the Social Democratic Party a...

  5. William and Jean Helmar papers

    The papers consist of four postcards and letters with envelopes written and sent by William Helmar from Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps to his parents in the Netherlands. Also included is a note with instructions to concentration camp inmates' friends and families about sending packages to prisoners.

  6. Winterstein-Reinhardt family photograph collection

    The collection consists of 72 photographs and copy prints that document the experiences of two Sinti families, Winterstein and Reinhardt, before, during, and after World War II. The images depict family members, domestic life in Romani camps, and Romani musicians and dancers. One of the photographs was taken when the donor and her twin sister, Rolanda, were released to their parents for a propaganda photo shoot of Sinti parents strolling with their babies along the Domstrasse in Würzburg, Germany.

  7. Woman's engraved gold wrist watch given to one inmate by another in Auschwitz

    1. Esther Vardi collection

    Gold and silver engraved wrist watch given to 22 year old Esther (Edit) Schaechter in Auschwitz concentration camp around January 1945. The person who gave Esther the watch told her that she knew that Esther was going to survive and she wanted it preserved. Esther kept the watch through the death march to and imprisonment in Bergen-Belsen. Esther had been arrested by the Germans with false papers in Budapest in 1944 where she was active with the Zionist youth movement resistance activities. She was sent to Auschwitz in June 1944, given the number A-10 674, and selected for work duty as a se...

  8. Woman's gold wrist watch kept with a Jewish concentration camp inmate

    Gold wrist watch carried by Marga Gussinoff throughout her imprisonment in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and Vittel internment camp from 1943-1944. The wrist band was added to the watch after the war. In 1943, Marga and her mother, Sarah, were arrested by the Gestapo at their apartment in Berlin, Germany. Her sister, Eva, was in hiding with a German woman at the time, but joined them after their arrest. The Gestapo demanded that they turn over all their money and jewelry, but 20 year old Marga "being that I was rebellious, I had this watch, a gold watch, and I decided not to give it to t...

  9. Woman's nightgown with lacework trim brought to the US by a Jewish Austrian refugee

    1. Alfred and Elsa Dukes collection

    Woman’s white nightgown brought with Elsa Dukes when she, her husband, Alfred, and their 13 year old daughter, Gertrude, left Vienna, Austria, for the United States in July 1939. On March 13, 1938, Austria was annexed by Germany. Anti-Jewish policies forced Alfred out of his job as a government office manager. On November 10, during Kristallnacht, Alfred was arrested, while Elsa and Gertrude were taken to Gestapo headquarters and held for hours. Alfred was badly beaten but was released a week later on the condition that he leave Austria. Alfred and Elsa had no relatives to sponsor their imm...

  10. Women’s blue cloth and wood sandals worn by an American internee

    1. Leonie Roualet collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn628048
    • English
    • a: Height: 5.250 inches (13.335 cm) | Width: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm) | Depth: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm) b: Height: 5.125 inches (13.018 cm) | Width: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm) | Depth: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm)

    Pair of shoes worn by Leonie Roualet, while she was interned in Vittel internment camp in German-occupied France from September 1942 through September 1944. Leonie was born in New York to Leonie Calmesse and Henry Charles Roualet, French champagne vintners who had immigrated to the United States in the 1890s. In the 1930s, Leonie’s mother returned to France to take care of her ailing brother. While caring for her brother, she too became sick, and in 1939 Leonie traveled to France to take care of her mother and her uncle. In May 1940, Germany invaded France and occupied the northern half of ...

  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. Wooden boot tree in 4 sections owned by a German Jewish businessman in Shanghai

    1. Adelaide and Fritz Kauffmann collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn518180
    • English
    • a: Height: 20.375 inches (51.753 cm) | Width: 3.630 inches (9.22 cm) | Depth: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) b: Height: 15.250 inches (38.735 cm) | Width: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm) | Depth: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) c: Height: 15.375 inches (39.053 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) d: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Depth: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)

    Wooden boot tree that belonged to Fritz Kauffmann, a German Jewish businessman, who lived in Shanghai, China, from 1931-1949. He was active in Jewish community aid efforts before and during World War II. In 1940, because of Nazi politics and the outbreak of war, he resigned from the German firm for which he worked and opened his own import/export business. He was deprived of his German citizenship in 1941 for being Jewish and living abroad. However, as a longtime resident and successful businessman in Shanghai, he was able to surmount wartime difficulties and assist the more recent Jewish r...

  13. Wooden boot tree in 4 sections owned by a German Jewish businessman in Shanghai

    1. Adelaide and Fritz Kauffmann collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn518179
    • English
    • a: Height: 20.500 inches (52.07 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Depth: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) b: Height: 15.375 inches (39.053 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Depth: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) c: Height: 15.375 inches (39.053 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) d: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Depth: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)

    Wooden boot tree that belonged to Fritz Kauffmann, a German Jewish businessman, who lived in Shanghai, China, from 1931-1949. He was active in Jewish community aid efforts before and during World War II. In 1940, because of Nazi politics and the outbreak of war, he resigned from the German firm for which he worked and opened his own import/export business. He was deprived of his German citizenship in 1941 for being Jewish and living abroad. However, as a longtime resident and successful businessman in Shanghai, he was able to surmount wartime difficulties and assist the more recent Jewish r...

  14. Wooden boot tree in 4 sections with inscriptions owned by a German Jewish businessman in Shanghai

    1. Adelaide and Fritz Kauffmann collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn518177
    • English
    • a: Height: 20.000 inches (50.8 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Depth: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) b: Height: 15.625 inches (39.688 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Depth: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) c: Height: 15.500 inches (39.37 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) | Depth: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) d: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Depth: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm)

    Wooden boot tree that belonged to Fritz Kauffmann, a German Jewish businessman, who lived in Shanghai, China, from 1931-1949. He was active in Jewish community aid efforts before and during World War II. In 1940, because of Nazi politics and the outbreak of war, he resigned from the German firm for which he worked and opened his own import/export business. He was deprived of his German citizenship in 1941 for being Jewish and living abroad. However, as a longtime resident and successful businessman in Shanghai, he was able to surmount wartime difficulties and assist the more recent Jewish r...

  15. Wooden box placed on a workbench used to conceal a Jewish family’s hiding place

    1. Stefan Petri collection

    Worn, wooden box placed on a workbench that concealed one of the hiding places Stefan Petri built in his home in Wawer, Poland. Stefan, his wife, Janina, and their son, Marian, were Polish Catholics. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and began subjugating the Polish people. Uncertain of what might occur, Stefan built a basement hiding place concealed by a cabinet. In mid-1942, the Germans deported 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka killing center. Stefan learned that his Jewish dentist and friend, Dr. Szapiro, his wife Ela, and their adult sons, Jerzy and Marek had ...

  16. Wooden flashlight box lantern placed on a workbench used to conceal a Jewish family’s hiding place

    1. Stefan Petri collection

    Flashlight box lantern placed on a workbench that concealed one of the hiding places Stefan Petri built in his home in Wawer, Poland. Stefan, his wife, Janina, and their son, Marian, were Polish Catholics. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and began subjugating the Polish people. Uncertain of what might occur, Stefan built a basement hiding place concealed by a cabinet. In mid-1942, the Germans deported 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka killing center. Stefan learned that his Jewish dentist and friend, Dr. Szapiro, his wife Ela, and their adult sons, Jerzy and Mare...

  17. Wooden keepsake box from a Sinti family

    1. Gabriel Reinhardt and Theresia Winterstein families collection

    Small wooden jewelry box kept by Rita Prigmore and originally owned by her grandmother, Josefine Winterstein. The family was Sinti. They had traveled widely in Western and Central Europe until the Nazi regime restricted Sinti migrations in the 1930s. Rita's parents, Theresia Winterstein and Gabriel Reinhardt, met in 1941 when they both worked at the Stadttheater in Wurzburg, Germany. Persecution of the Roma 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 chi...

  18. Wooden spinning wheel used while in hiding in Belgium

    1. Laja Grad Iarchy collection
    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn523303
    • English
    • 1942-1945
    • a: Height: 35.500 inches (90.17 cm) | Width: 16.750 inches (42.545 cm) | Depth: 11.500 inches (29.21 cm) b: Height: 8.380 inches (21.285 cm) | Width: 3.620 inches (9.195 cm) | Depth: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) c: Height: 10.500 inches (26.67 cm) | Width: 9.380 inches (23.825 cm) | Depth: 2.870 inches (7.29 cm)

    Spinning wheel purchased by Laja Iarchy while she was living in hiding with her family in Durbuy, Belgium. She used it to spin wool from local sheep from which she knitted socks and sweaters that she sold to support her family. After the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, they enacted anti-Jewish legislation, confiscated property, and soon were targeting Jews for deportation to labor camps. To escape persecution, the Iarchy family decided to go into hiding in early 1942. Laja, her 3 year old son, Jean, and her mother left Antwerp and, with the assistance of the Belgium resistance, found r...

  19. Wooden trap door beneath a workbench used to conceal a Jewish family’s hiding place

    1. Stefan Petri collection

    Trap door entrance beneath a workbench that concealed one of the hiding places Stefan Petri built in his home in Wawer, Poland. Stefan, his wife, Janina, and their son, Marian, were Polish Catholics. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and began subjugating the Polish people. Uncertain of what might occur, Stefan built a basement hiding place concealed by a cabinet. In mid-1942, the Germans deported 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka killing center. Stefan learned that his Jewish dentist and friend, Dr. Szapiro, his wife Ela, and their adult sons, Jerzy and Marek had ...

  20. Wreath shaped badge owned by a Jewish veteran of the Air Force for the Czech government in exile

    1. Frank Meissner collection

    Wreath shaped pin with a fish owned by Frank Meissner who served in the Czech Air Force from 1944-1945 for the Czech government in exile. At the age of 16, Frank left Trest, Czechoslovakia, in 1939 to avoid the increasingly harsh Nazi persecutions of Jews. He went to Denmark with Youth Aliyah to attend agricultural school. In fall 1943, when the Germans decided to deport all Jews from Denmark, Frank was smuggled on a fishing boat to Sweden. During his exile, he received weekly letters from his family, even after their deportation to Theresienstadt ghetto. The letters stopped in 1943. In the...