Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 661 to 680 of 3,431
  1. Motorboat used to take Jewish people in Denmark to safety in Sweden

    Motorboat named Lurifax (later Filuren and Solskin), used by members of the Helsingør Syklub (Elsinore Sewing Club), a Danish resistance group, to transport Danish Jews from German-occupied Denmark to neutral Sweden across the Øresund Strait in October 1943. The boat was one of several the group used to rescue the Jewish refugees and their non-Jewish relatives facing deportation to concentration camps. Later, it ferried weapons and supplies, as well as resistance members, back and forth to Sweden. Between October 1943 and May 1944, the Club transported approximately 1,400 people across the ...

  2. Concentration camp uniform jacket with purple triangle worn by Jehovah’s Witness

    Concentration camp uniform jacket issued to Max Hollweg, a Jehovah’s Witness imprisoned in Buchenwald and Wewelsburg concentration camps from 1938 to 1945. It has a purple patch marking him as a Jehovah’s Witness above a white patch with his prisoner number from Wewelsburg, 13573. The Nazi regime persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to put any authority before God. On July 7, 1938, Max was arrested for illegally distributing Jehovah’s Witness materials. He was sent to Buchenwald September 23, put in a punishment commando, and severely beaten multiple times. He had intestinal surgery ...

  3. Concentration camp uniform dress worn by a Jewish Czech inmate

    Concentration camp uniform dress worn by Leopoldine “Poldi” Langer in Leipzig-Schoenfeld concentration camp from August 4, 1944, until she was on a death march in late April 1945. On March 15, 1939, Germany annexed the region of Czechoslovakia, including Orlau, where Poldi lived with her husband Hans. Hans was arrested in April, escaped after two days, and the couple fled to Prokocim, Poland, near Krakow. That September, Germany invaded Poland. In January 1941, Poldi and Hans were arrested and sent to Prokocim labor camp. In November 1942, they were transferred to Płaszów slave labor camp. ...

  4. Zygmunt Jastrzębski postcard

    Zygmunt Jastrzębski wrote the postcard in Buchenwald concentration camp addressed to his sister, Hania Jastrzębska. In the postcard he writes that he is well and asks for news.

  5. Dora Pollak family correspondence

    The Dora Pollak family correspondence consists primarily of letters Dora and Richard Pollak received from family and friends in Czecholovakia, England, and Switzerland during and after the war. Wartime correspondence relates family news, documents efforts to emigrate from Czechoslovakia, describes preparations for deportation to Theresienstadt, and relays thanks for care packages delivered to Theresienstadt. Postwar correspondence summarizes wartime experiences and documents efforts to reclaim and manage family businesses and property lost during the war including the Joseph Taussig and Dan...

  6. Helen H. Waterford manuscripts

    Consists of the original manuscript of "Commitment to the Dead: One Woman's Journey Towards Understanding" (251 pages) and a revised first draft (139 pages) of the same by Helen H. Waterford. The manuscript is Helen Waterford's personal testimony of persecution and suffering during her imprisonment in Auschwitz and Kratzau (a.k.a. Chrastava). Inserted into the text are questions and comments for Waterford's many lectures. Both the original manuscript and first draft are marked heavily with notations by an editor.

  7. "Survival in the Lion's Den"

    Contains information about the experiences of Fred Angress's family during resettlement in Amsterdam and their life in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The testimony draws from Angress' personal diary and other published sources, all of which are listed in a short bibliography. The testimony is dedicated to Nelly Gispen, a close friend of the author during the Holocaust era.

  8. Ida Gebel, Wilhelm Wensing, Else Wensing, and Klara Ditschi papers

    Consists of copies of documents relating to the experiences of Ida Gebel, Wilhelm Wensing, Else Wensing, and Klara Ditschi, all Jehovah's Witnesses, before, during, and after the Holocaust.

  9. Concentration camp uniform coat worn by an Austrian Catholic inmate

    Concentration camp uniform knee length coat worn by Karl Unterthiner, an Austrian Catholic political prisoner in Dachau concentration camp from March 25, 1944, to April 29, 1945. Karl lived in Sterzing, (Vitipeno) Italy, an alpine village, which was part of Austria until World War I. In June 1939, Germany and Italy agreed this area would be Italianized. Residents who wished to retain their German culture and language were given the option to go to Germany or Austria which was part of the German Reich. Karl was Austrian, and he refused to leave his home and spoke out against Fascism and Nazi...

  10. Majdanek liberated

    Opening titles and credits (see transcription below). Pan of prisoners behind barbed wire. CUs prisoners, their tatooed numbers, of the electrically charged barbed wire, ruins, various signs, guard towers, aerial views, etc. The Russian officers examine officials of camp. Men dig up graves for evidence. CU, women weeping as bodies are uncovered. CUs, decomposed bodies and pile of skulls. Gas chambers. CU can of chemicals used for gas. INTs, camp, etc. Officials of the camp are examined and, with the help of female Russian interpreter, various prisoners tell their stories. Rolling credits at...

  11. In the Museum of German History Caricature of Hitler and German historical figures as museum mannequins

    Postwar color caricature by Alfred Uzarski (1885-1970) depicting Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, a decapitated Jewish head, and other historical German military figures,as well as a decaptiated as mannequins on display in a museum hall. Uzarski was a successful writer and artist, known for satirical works critical of German bourgeois society and the radical right. He was co-founder of the avant garde Junge Rheinland group in Dusseldorf, which included Pankok, Schwesig, and Wollheim. After the Nazi regime gained power in 1933, art was expected to promote Nazi ideology. Modern art and those who cr...

  12. Bureaucratic persecution Jewish life in Frankfurt-am-Main, 1933-1938

    Manuscript produced at Harvard by Paul Hamburg in 1967. Contains information about antisemitic persecution and anti-Jewish laws in Frankfurt am Main, Germany; organized boycotts of Jewish businesses; Kristallnacht; and Jewish reaction to persecution in Frankfurt am Main.

  13. Walter K. and Lucie H. Sobotta papers

    Contains photographs, affidavits, statements, and certificates relating to Walter K. and Lucie H. Sobotta and their experiences during World War II.

  14. Charred electrical insulator from Auschwitz found by a Sinti inmate

    Partial charred porcelain electrical insulator from Auschwitz concentration camp acquired postwar by Hans Braun, a German Sinti man who was imprisoned there with his family from March 1943 to May 1944. It was the type used to connect electrical wires to the concrete fence posts around the camp. In early 1940, Hans, a forced laborer, broke a machine at a factory and was accused of sabotage. The Gestapo came after him and he fled Bernau and went into hiding. Hans was arrested twice, but escaped, until March 1943, when he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was reunited with his family in the ...

  15. Charlene Schiff papers

    The collection primarily documents the postwar experiences of Charlene Perlmutter Schiff, originally of Horochów, Wolyn Poland (Horokhiv, Ukraine), including her life in the Föhrenwald and Bensheim displaced persons camps (DP camps) and immigration to the United States in 1948. Included are documents, correspondence, and photographs. Documents include a United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) immunization card, notes, a copy of a legal document, and songs and poems. One poem, “I Remember” was written in 1985 and read by her at a Holocaust memorial service at Fort Bel...

  16. Roma documents from the Otto Pankok Museum, Düsseldorf

    Contains information relating primarily to Otto Pankok and his strong interest in Roma, especially Roma of Düsseldorf, Germany. Of special interest in the collection are articles relating to the artwork and career of Otto Pankok and his play "Wie Wir Leben."

  17. Records relating to the Soviet Union under Nazi Occupation

    Contains public notices, maps, testimonies, letters, and reports relating to killing in Lithuania during Nazi occupation; killing in retaliation for sabotage; activities of Einsatzgruppe A from October 1941 to January 1942; mass shootings of Soviet citizens; Soviet POWs; creation of ghettos; operation “Hornung“; the annihilation of Jews in Slutsk (Minsk Oblast); killing of Soviet citizens in retaliation for partisan activities; interrogation of Kiev inhabitants concerning the massacre at Babi Yar; operation “Swamp Fever“ near Minsk; operation “Magic Flute“ in Minsk; operation “Kottbus“ in B...

  18. Reborn memoirs of a camp survivor

    Consists of a copy of the survivor testimony of Kay Gundel entitled "Reborn: Memoirs of a Camp Survivor." The testimony describes in great detail the persecution of Jews living in Berlin, Germany, just prior to World War II. The greater portion of the testimony is devoted to the graphic description of Gundel's imprisonment at Terezin, Auschwitz, and Merzdorf. The later part of the testimony describes Gundel's return to life in Germany and her eventual emigration to the United States. Also included with the testimony are several letters written to the Berthold family of Wilmersdorf, Germany....

  19. Invitation card to a Gala Concert to aid Danish refugees in Sweden

    1. Ellis Gordon collection

    Invitation Card to a Gala Concert to aid the Danish Refugees in Sweden at the Metropolitan Opera House held on Thursday evening, February 17th, 1944. Lists participating artists, prices, special guests, contact for tickets. "There are about 11,000 Danish Refugees in Sweden who have fled Gestapo terror, they must be fed, clothed, housed until Denmark is free again. Denmark is not yet in the Nation-wide National War Fund Drive, as this unfortunately was closed before the latest tragedy to our country occurred, therefore this Benefit Concert has been arranged by Lauritz Melchior to help reliev...

  20. Ellis Gordon collection

    Invitation Card to a Gala Concert to aid the Danish Refugees in Sweden at the Metropolitan Opera House held on Thursday evening, February 17th, 1944. Lists participating artists, prices, special guests, contact for tickets. "There are about 11,000 Danish Refugees in Sweden who have fled Gestapo terror, they must be fed, clothed, housed until Denmark is free again. Denmark is not yet in the Nation-wide National War Fund Drive, as this unfortunately was closed before the latest tragedy to our country occurred, therefore this Benefit Concert has been arranged by Lauritz Melchior to help reliev...