us-005578-irn47133-irn50399
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
archival history: The sewing box was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Maud Michal Beer, the daughter of Käthe Steiner Stecklmacher.
identifier: irn50399
date: 1945 May
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has or had holder: us-005578
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn47133-irn50399/acquisitions/1
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn47133-irn50399/alternateIDs/1
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Well-used, rectangular, red leather covered, fiberboard sewing box with a leather panel hinge attaching the lid. There is a small leather flap closure sewn to the front lid exterior with a brass colored metal oval with a small pin that inserts and locks into a hole in an oval plate on the base. The lock is released by pressing down on a small oval knob on the base plate. The lid interior has an attached cardboard panel covered in gray cloth. A small gray pillow with red stitched edges, 2in. x 1.75 in., is sewn on the lid interior, with 2 narrow red leather parallel loops sewn below. The base has 2 interior compartments. The larger is lined with red leather; the smaller on the right is lined with frayed satiny red cloth.
scope and content: Red leather sewing box made for Käthe Stecklmacher by her father Max Steiner and preserved by her daughter Maud. Max and his brother Josef operated a custom leather goods business started by their father. Käthe gave the box to non-Jewish neighbors for safekeeping before her July 1942 deportation from Prostejov, Czechoslovakia, to Ghetto Theresienstadt. She recovered the box when she returned to Prostejov in May 1945. On July 2, 1942, Käthe, her husband Fritz, her two daughters, Maud, 13, and Karmela, 8, her parents Max and Steffi Steiner, and her uncle and cousin, Josef and Gustav Steiner, were sent to Thereseinstadt. On July 28, Gustav, 16, and Josef were sent to Baranowicze, Poland, where they were murdered upon arrival. Max died on September 17. Fritz committed suicide in Terezin on May 30, 1943. Käthe was assigned to the glimmer factory, separating the mineral mica in flakes used for electrical insulation. Mica was essential to the German war effort, so she and her immediate family were protected temporarily from deportation to camps further east. Steffi was deported to Auschwitz and murdered in October 1944. Theresienstadt was liberated by Soviet troops on May 9, 1945. Käthe, Maud, and Karmela returned to Prostejov. They left for Israel in March 1949.
is or was included in: us-005578-irn47133
biographical history: Maud Klotilde Stecklmacher was born on April 7, 1929, in Prostejov, Moravia, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic), to Friedrich (Fritz ) Bedrich and Käthe Steiner Stecklmacher. Fritz was born on December 7, 1898, in Prossnitz to Jakub and Klotilde Stecklmacher. Fritz owned a clothing store and a wholesale business founded by his father that supplied accessories like buttons, buckles, and thread to local garment factories. Frtiz had four brothers, Emil, who died in childhood, Bruno, killed in WWI, Arthur, an architect in Prague, and Otto, who worked in the business in Prostejov. Käthe was born on March 26, 1908, the only daughter of Max and Steffi Steiner, owners of a wholsesale leathers goods and custom shoe business in Prostejov. Max’s brother, Josef, also worked in the family business. Josef was a widower, with a son, Gustav, born on December 29, 1925. Josef's and Max lived above the store with thier families. Fritz and Käthe married on March 25, 1928. Maud’s sister, Karmela, was born March 1, 1934. The families were very close, but not especially religious, attending temple only on Jewish High Holidays. But they were ardent Zionists: Fritz and Max belonged to Bnai Brith, Käthe and her mother belonged to the Zionist women’s organization WIZO and the children belonged to a Zionist youth organization, Tchelet-Lavan (Blue-White), and Maccabi sports club. They were affluent, assimilated German speakers. The sisters had live-in nannies and attended a public school with few other Jewish students. In September 1938, Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia and on March 15, 1939, occupied Bohemia and Moravia where Prostejov was located. The occupation brought an increasing series of anti-Jewish repressions. Jews were not allowed to use public facilities, such as movies and parks, and in 1940, Jewish children could no longer attend public schools. The Jewish community offered classes in different homes, but by September 1941, Maud and Karmela were tutored a…
record resource extent: overall: Height: 3.375 inches (8.573 cm) | Width: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm) | Depth: 6.875 inches (17.463 cm)
has record set type: Item
type: RecordSet
title: Red leather sewing box recovered postwar by a Czech Jewish woman