Archival Descriptions

Displaying items 81 to 100 of 26,867
Country: United States
  1. Hersh Smolar - Minsk ghetto

    Hersh Smolar, was the editor of a Yiddish daily newspaper. After the war began, he became a leading member of the resistance in the Minsk ghetto and the commissar of a partisan group operating in the Belorussian forests. He discusses conditions in the ghetto and resistance activities. FILM ID 3376 -- Camera Rolls #1-3 -- 01:00:07 to 01:30:17 Hersh Smolar was an editor of a Yiddish daily paper in Bialystok and left for Minsk by foot in June/July 1941 to get out. [The Germans advanced into Minsk on June 28, 1941, blocking all roads for evacuation]. He found Minsk abandoned by the Russian gove...

  2. Leather suitcase used by a German Jewish boy while on a refugee transport

    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn549447
    • English
    • a: Height: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm) | Width: 19.500 inches (49.53 cm) | Depth: 11.750 inches (29.845 cm) b: Height: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Width: 20.500 inches (52.07 cm) | Depth: 12.250 inches (31.115 cm) c: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 6.125 inches (15.558 cm) | Depth: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm)

    Small brown leather suitcase used by Fritz (later Fred) Strauss while part of a refugee transport of children from Germany between 1939 and 1941. In response to the 1935 Nuremberg Laws and growing anti-Semitism in their small town, Fritz’s mother sent him, in 1936, to Frankfurt to attend school at a large Jewish orphanage. Within three years, anti-Semitism in Frankfurt had grown, and on March 8, 1939, Fritz was sent on a transport to Paris, France, with ten other children. Fritz and the other Orthodox children moved to new towns multiple times in the area around Paris, but managed to contin...

  3. Hanna Marton

    Hanna Marton is from Cluj (now Romania), formerly the capital of Transylvania. Both Hanna Marton and her husband were lawyers and Zionists. Marton was aboard the train organized by Rudolf (Rezso) Kasztner, carrying 1684 'privileged' Jews that left Hungary for Germany, eventually bringing them to Bergen-Belsen on 9 July 1944. Claude Lanzmann asks questions in French, which Hanna Marton understands, although she replies in Hebrew. Her answers are translated to French by Lanzmann's female translator, Francine Kaufmann. The transcript is in French only. Cluj was also known as Kolozsvar and Klau...

  4. 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...

  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. Friendship ring engraved GG made from silver spoons in the Riga ghetto

    Engraved silver ring made from a spoon for Gerda Gerstl, 12, in March 1943 in the Riga ghetto. Gerda and her friend Hanka Spiegel had rings made for Hanka’s 12th birthday by Issi Lurie, a silversmith who worked with Hanka’s father Karl in the Luftwaffe uniform deposit. Gerda and Hanka traded their rings in fall 1943 when they were separated. Hanka kept Gerda’s ring until her liberation in March 1945, wearing it upside down on her hand and hiding it in her mouth during selections. Gerda and Hanka met at the Viennese school in the ghetto. Hanka and her parents were sent to Riga from Theresien...

  7. Leather wallet with embossed images of Egyptian pharaohs acquired by a Jewish medical officer, 2nd Polish Corps

    Decorative brown leather wallet purchased by Dr. Edmund Lusthaus in Egypt circa 1943 where he was stationed with the 2nd Polish Corps, British Army, as a medical officer. When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Lusthaus was drafted into the Polish Army. Seventeen days later, the Soviet army invaded from the east. Lusthaus was captured and taken to a camp for Polish prisoners of war in Novosibirsk, Siberia, where he served as a physician. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Soviet government released the Polish POWs to join the fighting. Lusthaus joined the volunteer...

  8. Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 27 and 28 -- Testimonies of F. Masia, M. Dworzecki, A. Kovner, A. Peretz

    Sessions 27 and 28. Witness Frieda Masia, a leader in the Zionist youth movement and member of the Jewish underground, recounts an incident in which Harry Blumerfracht, a member of the Zionist youth movement attempted to steal weapons from a German plant-owner. The plan failed, and Masia states: "...they took hold of Harry and arrested him. Harry was tortured in a horrible way." There is a blip at 00:03:50. Witness Dr. Meir Mark Dworzecki, survivor of Vilna Ghetto and five Estonian concentration camps, discusses 'malines' [hiding places] in the Vilna Ghetto. He states: "... an underground t...

  9. Henry Dressler papers

    The Henry Dressler papers consists of biographical material, writings, restitution material, photographs, and correspondence related to the Holocaust experiences of Henry (Heinz) Dressler and his family. Joachim and Martha, along with their children Henry and Susi, survived the war by working in Oskar Schindler’s factory. The collection consists of Henry’s wartime and post-war diary, the family’s work papers for Oskar Schindler, immediate post-war correspondence of Henry and Joachim Dressler to various family members, friends, and associates, and photographs depicting the Dressler family be...

  10. Wrought iron gates and related parts from the Jewish cemetery in Tarnow, Poland

    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn5266
    • English
    • 1920-1990
    • a: Height: 100.250 inches (254.635 cm) | Width: 107.000 inches (271.78 cm) | Depth: 3.875 inches (9.843 cm) b: Height: 11.500 inches (29.21 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) c: Height: 11.625 inches (29.528 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) d: Height: 11.625 inches (29.528 cm) | Width: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) | Depth: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) e: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 8.125 inches (20.638 cm) | Depth: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) f: Height: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) | Width: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm) | Depth: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) g: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) | Depth: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm) h: Height: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Width: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm) | Depth: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) i: Height: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Depth: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) j: Width: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Depth: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) k: Width: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Depth: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm) l: Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Depth: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm) m: Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Depth: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm) n: Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Depth: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) o: Height: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Diameter: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm) p: Height: 2.375 inches (6.033 cm) | Width: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Depth: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) q: Height: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm) | Width: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) | Depth: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) r: Height: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm) | Width: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Depth: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm) s: Width: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) | Depth: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm) t: Height: 21.625 inches (54.928 cm) | Width: 53.000 inches (134.62 cm)

    Wrought iron, double gate from the Jewish cemetery in Tarnów, Poland, acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in 1991. Jewish settlement in the city and the cemetery date back to the 16th century and prior to World War II, 25,000 Jews lived in Tarnów. In September 1939, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Germany invaded western Poland while the Soviet Union annexed eastern Poland. On September 7, German forces occupied Tarnów and burned all of the city’s synagogues. German authorities blocked Jewish bank accounts, closed schools, required Jews to display...

  11. Maurice Rossel - Red Cross

    As a representative of the Swiss Red Cross in 1944, Maurice Rossel was asked to inspect Theresienstadt. He admits that he gave Theresienstadt a clean bill of health and would probably do so again today. He was also given a tour of Auschwitz, which he did not realize was a death camp. Lanzmann's questioning points to the degree to which Rossel and others were manipulated by the Nazis and to what extent they were willing to be fooled because of their own politics and prejudices. This interview is the basis of Lanzmann's 1999 documentary "A Visitor from the Living" [Un vivant qui passe]. FILM ...

  12. Ada Lichtman

    Ada (Eda) Lichtman talks about her experiences in the Krakow ghetto, her father's murder, and her transport to Sobibor. She was chosen to do the SS laundry in Sobibor and remembers cleaning dolls and toys seized from a transport of children for the SS families. She talks about Franz Stangl and Gustav Wagner and relates a story about a Dutch transport where the prisoners were given postcards to write home before they were murdered. At Lanzmann's urging, Lichtman sews doll clothes during the interview; this is a duty she used to perform in Sobibor. FILM ID 3270 -- Camera Rolls #1-4-- 01:00:18...

  13. Andre Steiner

    Andre Steiner, an architect, discusses the Judenrat and resistance activities in Slovakia with Lanzmann. He recounts relations with Rabbi Weissmandel and Gisi Fleischmann in their attempt to rescue Slovak Jews from deportation. FILM ID 3414 -- Camera Rolls #1-3 -- 00:00:22 to 00:33:51 CR1 Andre Steiner was born into an assimilated Czechoslovakian Jewish family. He was an architect in Brno and in 1939 he was imprisoned briefly because his father-in-law was a leader of the Jewish Agency in Czechoslovakia. He and his family left Brno for Bratislava as soon as he was released from prison. In Br...

  14. Lenneberg and Brünell families papers

    The Lenneberg and Brünell families papers consists of a diary, photographs, and documents relating to Ursula Lenneberg and Siegmund Brünell’s families' pre-war life in Germany and their wartime and post-war experiences in various concentration camps and DP camps. The diary was written by Ursula while in the Deggendorf DP camp. In the diary she describes her experiences interned in several camps including Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Kudowa, and Merzdorf. The diary also includes post-war images of Ursula and her mother, Caroline “Lina” Lenneberg, as well as a note inscribed by her f...

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

    Dried flowers preserved from the funeral for Samu Kornhauser by his widow Malvina. She pressed the flowers in the memorial book, Emlekezesek Konyvet, [Book of Remembrance] between pages 34 and 35. The book is record 1999.282.4. 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...

  16. Wooden comb and handmade paper case given to a prisoner by a friend in Kaiserwald concentration camp

    • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    • irn47061
    • English
    • a: Height: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Width: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm) b: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) | Depth: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm)

    Wooden comb and paper case given to 21 year old Esther Dykman by a friend on December 27, 1944, when they were slave laborers in an AEG Factory in Kaiserwald concentration camp in Riga, Latvia. The friend found the comb on the side of the road and made the holder from materials taken from the factory where she and Esther worked. Germany invaded Soviet controlled Poland in June 21,1941, and three days later occupied Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania) where Esther lived with her parents and 8 year old sister Cyla. By July, they enacted policies to persecute the Jews. German mobile killing units, aide...

  17. War Crimes Commission: Concentration Camps

    There are breaks between reels. The film begins with titles and affidavits attesting to the authenticity of the film material to follow. A quote from Robert Jackson is followed by affidavits from George Stevens and E. R. Kellogg. Both affidavits are shown on the screen as they are read aloud. An animated maps shows the locations of the largest prison and concentration camps in Germany and occupied Europe. 01:04:27 Title on screen: "Leipzig Concentration Camp" [Leipzig-Thekla, a sub-camp of Buchenwald]. Long shots of the camp while the narrator tells of the political prisoners who were burne...

  18. Czeslaw Borowi - Treblinka

    Czeslaw Borowi (Borowy) is a Polish peasant who lived his entire life in Treblinka. He describes the transports and the experience of living in the shadow of the camp. When the Germans were shooting at Jews, his family slept on the floor to avoid stray bullets. He repeats some of the common refrains about how rich Jews arrived in fancy trains and the Jews offered no resistance. Borowi makes the throat-slitting sign in "Shoah." See Lanzmann's memoir The Patagonian Hare for his reflections on Borowi and his role in the film. FILM ID 3348 -- Camera Rolls #46,47,48,56 -- 01:00:13 to 01:23:39 Re...

  19. 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 ...

  20. Lindenbaum and Landau families collection

    The Lindenbaum and Landau families collection contains photographs of the Lindenbaum and Landau families, circa 1900s-1945. The family photographs were taken in Łódź, Poland; Warsaw, Poland; the Warsaw ghetto; and Belgium. The photographs feature friends and family members and include both victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Photographs of Tobiasz and Curtla Lindenbaum include the couple around the turn of the century; a portrait of Tobiasz, undated; Curtla holding an umbrella at an unknown resort, undated; Curtla, two of her daughters, and a grandson riding in a droshky, undated; Cur...