Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 21 to 40 of 26,867
Country: United States
  1. Green knapsack used by a Hungarian Jewish man in forced labor

    Large, two pocket rucksack used by Elek Brust while a forced laborer from 1941 and 1943-1944 in Hungary. He then used it while living in hiding with his family during the German occupation through February 1945. Elek was a manufacturer and prominent member of the Jewish community in Budapest where he lived with his wife Lilly and young daughter Eva. In 1941, Jewish males were required to do forced labor service and Elek was sent to a labor camp. Lilly obtained his release a few months later with black market papers. In 1943, Elek was again drafted, and not released until March 1944. On Marc...

  2. John Pehle - Allies

    John Pehle discusses the War Refugee Board, U.S. policy and inaction, the Riegner cable of March 1943, Rabbi Wise and the rally at Madison Square Garden, antisemitism, the bombing of Auschwitz, the International Red Cross, and the Vatican. FILM ID 3259 -- Camera Rolls #38-42-- 01:00:18 to 01:07:31 Roll 38 01:00:19 John Pehle exits his house, which is located in a wooded area, and walks around his yard. The camera pans out to reveal more of the wooded surroundings. Pehle walks around the woods and collects small branches. It is fall or early winter and dead leaves cover the ground. 01:03:13 ...

  3. Simha Rotem and Itzhak Zuckerman

    Simha Rotem and Itzhak Zuckerman talk about their involvement in the Jewish combat organization in the Warsaw ghetto and the Warsaw ghetto uprising. The interview with both men takes place at the Ghetto Fighters House in Israel on October 4, 1979. Mr. Rotem was interviewed separately in his apartment in Jerusalem on October 6, 1979. FILM ID 3745 -- Camera Rolls 1-4 Lanzmann says they are standing outside of the Ghetto Fighters House. Lanzmann has brought a model of the Warsaw Ghetto to reference when describing the uprising. Rotem joined the Jewish Combat Organization in 1942. He worked at ...

  4. Jan Piwonski - Sobibor

    Jan Piwonski gives a detailed description of the extermination process at Sobibor. He also provides a harrowing account of the brutal treatment the Jews received in the process of building the camp. He could hear the screams of the victims from his home three kilometers from the camp. Lanzmann quizzes him about relations between the Poles and the Jews. Piwonski says that the Poles were surprised by the Jews' lack of resistance. FILM ID 3339 -- Camera Rolls #7-8 -- 01:00:08 to 01:18:05 Lanzmann and Piwonski are seated outside on a bench in front of a small building speaking through translato...

  5. Concentration camp uniform cap worn by a Jewish German man

    Concentration camp uniform cap issued to Werner Sauer while interned in Stutthof concentration camp as a German marine deserter in early 1945. The cap is lined with cloth because German military deserters were treated better than Jewish prisoners. The hats Werner had been issued previously as a Jewish inmate were not lined. Werner saved the cap, and refused to ever have it cleaned, as evidence of his ordeal. On January 27, 1942, Werner and his parents, Leo and Auguste, were deported from Gelsenkirchen, Germany, to Riga, Latvia. Werner, a skilled bricklayer, was eventually transferred to Len...

  6. Ostwald family collection

    The Ostwald family collection consists of biographical materials, correspondence, diaries and memoirs, photographs, photo albums, and negatives related to the Ostwald family of Dortmund, Germany; the Strauss family; the Tendlau family; and the Weinberg family. The biographical materials series includes genealogy materials, family trees, and research files regarding various branches of the Ostwald family. The file on August Niemeyer (1887-1938), Martin Ostwald’s favorite Latin teacher, includes Niemeyer’s obituary and copy prints of the Dortmund school Martin attended. Materials relating to ...

  7. Czerner, Fröhlich, and Porges families papers

    The Czerner, Fröhlich, and Porges families papers contain correspondence, identification documents, immigration documents, school certificates, photographs, and a photograph album relating to the Czerner, Fröhlich, and Porges families living in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) before and during World War II and the Holocaust. The correspondence centers on the emigration of Max and Irma Czerner from Prague to the United States with their infant son in 1939. The correspondence relates their efforts to secure visas and transportation for their young daughters, Helga and Raya Czerner...

  8. Reference work

    Photocopy of a register of Jewish citizens located in Berlin, Germany, in 1947 that was copied by John Finke in Chicago in 2000. John (then Hans) was 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 parent...

  9. Painting of a man in a fez done on pillowcase by Dutch Jew in hiding

    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn39869
    • English
    • 1944
    • overall: Height: 12.750 inches (32.385 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm) | Depth: 1.880 inches (4.775 cm) pictorial area: Height: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm) | Width: 7.250 inches (18.415 cm)

    Painting and frame created by Dr. Samuel Vreedenburg in 1944 while he was living in hiding in the home of his former assistant and her husband, Janny and Willem Blom, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is a copy of Van Gogh’s The Zouave and was painted on a pillowcase with a frame made from crib slats. Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940 and, in 1942, Samuel and his wife Marianne sent their 9 year old son Max to live with their Christian housekeeper. That summer, the Germans began deporting Jews to concentration camps. In July, Janny and Willem visited the Vreedenburgs to encourage them...

  10. Scale model of Block 5 men's barracks at Theresienstadt made by a former Jewish Czech inmate

    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn855
    • English
    • a: Height: 9.875 inches (25.083 cm) | Width: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm) | Depth: 7.375 inches (18.733 cm) b: Height: 9.875 inches (25.083 cm) | Width: 9.625 inches (24.448 cm) | Depth: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) c: Height: 9.875 inches (25.083 cm) | Width: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm) | Depth: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) d1-d15: Height: 7.375 inches (18.733 cm) | Width: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm) e1-e5: Height: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm) | Width: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) | Depth: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm) f: Height: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm) | Width: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm) | Depth: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) g: Height: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) | Width: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Depth: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) h: Height: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Width: 2.375 inches (6.033 cm) | Depth: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) i: Height: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Width: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Depth: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) j: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Depth: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) k: Height: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Depth: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) l: Height: 7.125 inches (18.098 cm) | Width: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm) | Depth: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) m1: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Depth: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) m2: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) m3: Height: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm) | Width: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Depth: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) m4: Height: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm) | Width: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) m5: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) m6: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Depth: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) m7: Height: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm) | Width: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Depth: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) m8: Height: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) | Width: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Depth: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) m9: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Depth: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) m10: Height: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) | Width: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Depth: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) m11: Height: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) m12: Height: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm) | Width: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Depth: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) m13: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) m14: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) m15: Height: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) m16: Height: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) m17: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 2.375 inches (6.033 cm) | Depth: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) p1-6: Height: 7.375 inches (18.733 cm) | Width: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm) q1-2: Height: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Width: 4.125 inches (10.478 cm) r1-5: Height: 7.875 inches (20.003 cm) | Width: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm) s1-7: Height: 6.000 inches (15.24 cm) | Width: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm)

    Scale model, 1:10 ratio, of Block 5, men's barracks, at Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp made by Jiri Lauscher after the war. It was based upon his experiences as an inmate of the camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia from December 1942 - May 1945. Even while in the camp, Jiri was concerned with preserving memories of the prisoner's experiences. He remained dedicated to this memorial work for the rest of his life. Jiri was from Prague which was invaded in March 1939 by Germany. He was fired from his job because he was Jewish. In September 1941, Heydrich, the SS chief, became Reich Protecto...

  11. The Papers of Georg and Max Bredig

    This collection of mixed media contains manuscripts, photographs, publications, artifacts and works of art collected and owned by Georg and Max Bredig. The collection documents Georg Bredig's scientific training and rise to prominence as a gifted physical chemist in pre-World War II Germany. In contrast, the scope of the collection takes a dramatic shift after the Nazi rise to power in 1933. As a result of Bredig's Jewish descent, his scientific career and very way of life was brought to an abrupt halt. These documents describe the Bredig family's struggle to survive the horrors of Nazi-occ...

  12. Metal mezuzah found postwar and used by a Polish Jewish survivor

    Metal mezuzah found and used by Israel Miedzyrzecki (later Israel Nahari) after Warsaw was liberated in January 1945 and his family was able to come out of hiding and re-establish a home. He brought and used it as the family moved to Łódź, then Munich, Germany, and finally to Israel in 1947. The Torah states that every doorpost in a Jewish home should display a mezuzah klaf, a small parchment scroll inscribed with two prayers. The scroll is enclosed in a case and attached to the right doorpost to serve as a reminder of the covenant of faith and a notice of an observant Jewish home. Israel a...

  13. Yehuda Bauer

    Yehuda Bauer, an Israeli scholar, talks about how he first became involved in the study of the Holocaust and how he tries to strike a balance between emotional involvement and objectivity. He talks about the Jewish Council and Israeli attitudes to them after the war. Lanzmann and Bauer debate Kasztner's actions and motivations and the Nazi fantasy of the powerful "world Jewry". The interview was recorded outdoors in the early evening at a kibbutz in Israel (probably Bauer’s home). FILM ID 3793 -- Camera Rolls 1-3 -- Interview Judenrat CR1 Bauer says he came from Prague in 1939 at the age of...

  14. Wooden sculpture of a grieving woman made by a Lithuanian Jewish artist

    Wooden sculpture depicting a woman grieving over a loved one’s body carved by Jakovas Bunka to commemorate the Jews who were massacred in Plungė, Lithuania in 1941. In August 1940, Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union. On June 22, 1941, German forces invaded Soviet-occupied Lithuania, and Jakovas’ family fled east into the Soviet Union. Many Jews from Plungė were unable to flee, and within days local collaborators locked them all in the Great Synagogue with no food, water or fresh air. On Sunday, July 15, the Jews were marched to a forest where the adults were shot by drunken guards ...

  15. Westerbork transit camp voucher, 10 cent note, acquired by a former inmate

    Westerbork scrip issued in 1944 and acquired by Ruth Franken, who was imprisoned at the transit camp when she was 5 years old from 1942 to 1943. While at the camp, inmates were compelled to work, and a special currency was issued to incentivize work output, but the money had no real monetary value outside the camp. Westerbork was established by the Dutch government in October 1939 for Jewish refugees who had crossed the border illegally following the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938. After Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the German authorities began using Westerbork as...

  16. Navy blue pinstriped jacket and pants worn by the groom at his wedding to another survivor in a DP camp

    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn516093
    • English
    • a: Height: 33.000 inches (83.82 cm) | Width: 17.000 inches (43.18 cm) b: Height: 40.250 inches (102.235 cm) | Width: 14.500 inches (36.83 cm)

    Blue pin-striped suit worn by Welek (William) Luksenburg, 24, for his wedding to Hinde (Helen) Chilewicz, 21, on March 2, 1947, in the displaced persons camp in Weiden in der Oberpfalz, Germany. The couple met in 1944 as prisoners in Gleiwitz concentration camp. In 1941, Welek, his parents, and brother Szlomo were in the Jewish ghetto in Dabrow Gornicza in German occupied Poland. In 1942, his parents Rozalia and Simcha were deported and killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Welek got Szlomo released from a labor camp hospital and escaped a prison camp to care for him. When Welek was arrested, Szlom...

  17. Ring with a red heart and inmate numbers made from a spoon in a concentration camp

    Silver-colored finger ring made from a spoon by Leib Krycberg in Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where he was an inmate from 1942-45. It is engraved with the initials and prisoner numbers, of Leib and Miriam Litman, another prisoner with whom he had fallen in love. He made a duplicate ring for Miriam. In January 1945, both Leib and Miriam were deported from Auschwitz to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. After Mauthausen was liberated on May 5, 1945, Leib lived for three years in Arnstdorf displaced persons (DP) camp in Germany. During that time, he traveled to Italy to visit...

  18. Franz Grassler

    Franz Grassler was assistant to Heinz Auerswald, the Nazi commissioner of the Warsaw ghetto. Lanzmann tries to get him to talk about the ghetto, but he claims that he remembers very little.. Lanzmann asks about Adam Czerniakow and his suicide, typhus, the black market, the ghetto wall, filming in the ghetto, and more. Grassler conveniently remembers things when he thinks they might be documented in Czerniakow's diaries. FILM ID 3402 -- Camera Rolls #1,2,3 -- 00:01:24 to 00:27:52 CR 1 00:01:24 Franz Grassler sits on a red couch, presumably in his home. In response to a question from Lanzmann...

  19. Peter Bergson and Samuel Merlin - New York

    Peter Bergson and Samuel Merlin were activists in the United States during the war. They talk about conflicts with other Jewish groups, especially with Rabbi Stephen Wise. Bergson and his group organized the the We Will Never Die pageant and made other bold publicity moves aimed at influencing American policy in favor of helping the Jews of Europe. FILM ID 3254 -- Camera Rolls #48-50-- 01:00:18 to 01:33:18 Roll 48 01:00:18 Claude Lanzmann, Peter Bergson and Samuel Merlin sit inside a small meeting room around a table in New York City. Lanzmann, off-camera, asks the men about how the general...

  20. Tablespoon with scratched initials used by a German Jewish concentration camp inmate

    Stainless steel tablespoon with scratched initials used by Hans Finke while imprisoned in Auschwitz and several subcamps: Gleiwitz, Sachsenhausen, Flossenbürg, and Bergen Belsen. Hans carried the spoon, a crucial piece of property, in his shoe during transfers, including a death march, from March 1943 until liberation in Bergen-Belsen in April 1945. Hans, his parents and his sister Ursula lived in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi dictatorship from 1933 with its aggressive anti-Jewish policies. In February 1943, Hans, 23, an electrician, was a slave laborer for Siemens when he was hospital...