us-005578-irn47292-irn531150
record resource extent: overall: Height: 8.875 inches (22.543 cm) | Width: 1.000 inches (2.54 cm) | Depth: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm)
is or was included in: us-005578-irn47292
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1939-12-31
scope and content: J.A. Henckels table knife taken with Ernestine Wiesenthal when she emigrated from Berlin, Germany, to London, England in 1939. A partial maker’s mark is visible, but is missing the twin mark that identifies when a Henckels piece was manufactured. The knife matches another in the same collection (.2), which does have the twin mark with arched legs, which was utilized from 1900 until the middle of the Twentieth century. The knife handle is likely made of silver, though it does not bear any silver marks. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Following the passage of the Nuremberg laws in 1935, Ernestine’s son, Fritz, began looking for places where the family could immigrate as life became increasingly difficult for German Jews. Later that year, Fritz, a doctor, and his wife, Gertrude, sent their daughter, Illa, to boarding school in England. When their daughter, Nellie, was no longer allowed to attend public school, she moved into Ernestine’s home and attended a local Jewish school. Eventually, Jews were no longer able to practice medicine, and the family needed to emigrate. In 1938, Fritz left for the US in order to begin studying for the medical boards he needed to pass in order to practice medicine. He sent for Illa in August 1938. Nellie arrived in January 1939, and Gertrude arrived in March. Once in London, Ernestine spent her time knitting for the Red Cross. In the fall of 1942, she traveled to the US aboard a freighter in a Greek convoy.
has or had holder: us-005578
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has record set type: Item
history: The knife was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 by Nellie Fink, the granddaughter of Ernestine Wiesenthal.
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1939-01-01
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Heavy table knife with a wide metal blade and a plain, banded bolster connecting it to a hollow gold-colored handle with rounded sides. The blade is curved along the lower edge, and has a scalloped upper edge. The blade narrows at the back, and then widens again where it connects to the bolster. The bolster consists of a thick oval-shaped disc with straight sides, and a rounded band at the top of the handle. The handle widens slightly as it extends outward and has a bulge at the mid-point and bulbous end. The handle’s sides are plain and engraved with a thread design, a continuous set of parallel incised lines, along the edges, which incorporate a small triangle, or pip, at the end. There is a worn maker’s mark consisting of obscured text, mostly worn away, on the blade. The handle is heavy and likely contains clay, a common practice for filling hollow handles. The lower edge, or blade, is dull, and there are scratches and discoloration throughout, especially on the tip of the blade.
title: Henckels table knife with a scalloped edge brought with German Jewish prewar refugee
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1900-01-01
type: RecordSet
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn47292-irn531150/acquisitions/1
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn47292-irn531150/alternateIDs/1
identifier: irn531150
history: Ernestine Unger (1873-1947, later Wiesenthal) was born in Berlin, Germany, into a Jewish family that had lived in the city for generations. She married Otto Wiesenthal (1859-1930) on February 15, 1891. Otto was a physician, as was his father. Their son, Fritz (1893-?), would become a doctor as well. They had one daughter, Helene (1892-?, later Meyer). Ernestine’s family was assimilated and lived a comfortable middle-class life. Her daughter married Edgar Meyer (1893-1963) and they had three children: Eva (b.1927), Peter (b. 1930, and Angelika (?-1938). Ernestine’s son married Gertrude Loewenberg (1898-1986) on May 15, 1920, and they had two daughters: Illa (b. 1921, later Ilse) and Nellie (b.1930, later Fink). Ernestine often cared for her granddaughters because Gertrude suffered from an obsessive compulsive neurosis. She feared that she might get her children sick, often thinking she was carrying diseases like polio, meningitis and scarlet fever. This condition controlled much of Gertrude’s life, so she was often away in sanatoriums, living apart from the family much of the time due to her condition. Ernestine’s husband, Otto, died in November 1930. In 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor, and by that spring, anti-Jewish legislation was in effect. In 1935, as the Nuremberg race laws were passed and life for Jews in Germany became extremely precarious, Ernestine and her son, Fritz, took a trip to Palestine in search of a safe place to live. Eventually, Fritz decided that it would be better to go to the United States because there were already a few of his wife’s relatives living there. Ernestine’s granddaughter, Illa, was sent to a boarding school in England. In 1936, Ernestine’s granddaughter, Nellie, came to live with her because the Jewish school she now had to attend was close to her home. Eventually, Jews were no longer able to practice medicine in Germany, and Fritz had to seriously consider emigration. He began making plans to go to the US, and find out if h…