us-005578-irn40091-irn42623
history: The embroidered tablecloth was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by George and Katie Frankfurter.
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
title: Tablecloth embroidered with a blue bird and flower design recovered by Kato Ritter from her neighbors
history: Kato Ritter (later Katie, Ida Katie Frankfurter) was born on August 26, 1925, in Vilmany, Hungary, to David and Gizella Weissburg Ritter. David was born in 1898 in Novajidrany, Hungary, to Matlyas and Kati Ritter. Gizella was born in 1900 in Olaszliszka, Hungary, to Zigmund and Pearl Klein Weissburg. Kato had one brother, Matlyas, and two sisters, Lillian and Julianna, born in 1927. Matlyas and Lillian both died at a young age. David was injured during his military service in the Hungarian Army in World War I (1914-1918.) He was a farmer, and also owned several general goods, butcher, and grocery stores in Vilmany and nearby villages. Gizella assisted in managing the stores. The family occasionally had servants and distant relatives living in the household. Kato’s maternal and paternal grandparents were observant Jews, but Kato’s family was not religious, although they did observe the high holidays. The family spoke Hungarian at home, but both parents spoke German and her father also spoke Yiddish. When Kato was six, her mother taught her embroidery. Kato attended middle school, and later attended a gymnasium in Budapest, Hungary, where she lived with a maternal aunt and uncle, the Sekes. In 1938, the German-allied Hungarian government began enacting anti-Jewish legislation, and Kato’s family was required to pay rent for their farm land to the state. In 1941 or 1942, she returned to Vilmany because her parents wanted the family together. On March 19, 1944, German forces occupied Hungary. Shortly after, Hungarian soldiers went to each Jewish home in the village and made a list of inhabitants. A week later, Kato, her parents, her sister, and the 50 other Jewish residents of the village were gathered in the Catholic school. They were allowed to bring as many belongings as they could carry; Kato brought some food and a set of clothing. Kato was friends with a Catholic neighbor, Klara Oppel, and her family had agreed to safeguard some clothing and linens for the Ritters.…
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn40091-irn42623/alternateIDs/1
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has or had holder: us-005578
is or was included in: us-005578-irn40091
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Square, white, woven cotton tablecloth with counted cross stitch embroidery in light and dark blue thread. In the center is a small embroidered square defined by a plain, white border. The inner square bears a design of leaves and scrollwork vines with a flower in each corner. The majority of the remaining cloth is covered with a large, square frame bearing a design of flowers, leaves, and scrollwork vines. There are large flowers near the outer, scrollwork border and quail-like birds around the inner border. There is a narrow border of plain cloth that is hemstitched along the outer edge.
identifier: irn42623
has record set type: Item
type: RecordSet
record resource extent: overall: Height: 27.500 inches (69.85 cm) | Width: 28.375 inches (72.073 cm)
date: approximately 1930, 1945 July
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn40091-irn42623/acquisitions/1
scope and content: Counted cross-stitch tablecloth returned to 20-year-old Kato Ritter by her Catholic neighbors, the Oppel family, in Vilmany, Hungary, in July 1945. Kato’s family gave the tablecloth to the Oppels to safeguard prior to their deportation during World War II (1939-1945). It was embroidered in prewar Hungary. Nazi-controlled Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944, and one week later, 19-year-old Kato, her parents, David and Gizella, and her 17-year-old sister, Julianna, were deported from Vilmany to the Jewish ghetto in Košice, Czechoslovakia (now Košice, Slovakia). From there, they were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center, where everyone except Kato was gassed upon arrival. Kato was selected for forced labor, and sent to Peterswaldau concentration camp. The camp was liberated by the Soviet Army on May 8, 1945. That summer, Kato returned to Vilmany.