us-005578-irn47538-irn73190
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: a. Rectangular, white silk shawl with matching sets of 7 dark blue stripes of varying widths on both sides. It has long, braided fringe at each short end, with tzitzit, white knotted tassels, attached to each corner. One corner was cut off and has been reattached. The corners are reinforced with a square of white cloth with a circular center hole. There is an white cloth atarah, neck band, with folded, angled corners, sewn in the interior top center. b. Rectangular, worn, dark red, velvet pouch made of a single piece of cloth with a flap closure extension at the top with angled sides. The flap is embroidered with stylized initials in green thread wrapped around blue and yellow thread. Sections of the letters are done with a padded satin stitch. The letters are flanked by an embroidered yellow vine. There is a white mother of pearl button on the front; the flap underside has string remnants, possbily from a button loop. The bag is lined with offwhite cloth. b. front center, embroidered: LN [Leo Nast]
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1934 July
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
history: Leo Nast was born on October 3, 1885, in Schulitz, Germany. He had a sister, Frederica, and the family was Jewish. He attended Heidelberg University and studied chemistry. He became interested in the production of plastics and, at the age of twenty, received a patent for the creation of his first plastic. Leo received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1912 and became a chemical engineer. He moved to Cologne and worked at a plastics factory. During World War I (1914-1918), he served in intelligence for the German Army. Leo married Berte (Bertha) Kautz, who was born in 1889 in Cologne. After the war, Leo moved to Hamburg to work at the Triton Works company. In January 1933, Hitler came to power in Germany. Anti-Jewish laws were enacted to disenfranchise Jewish people. Leo and Bertha decided to leave Germany. The Catalin Corporation of America wished to hire Leo and sponsored their immigration visas. They left London on board the SS Manhattan and arrived in New York on July 14, 1934. Leo worked for the Catalin Corp. in New Jersey. In 1935, he helped found the Superlithe Corporation in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In 1936, Leo became the vice president, treasurer, and technical director at the Universal Plastics Corporation in New Brunswick. During the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9-10, 1938, Jewish synagogues and businesses all over Germany were vandalized and there were mass arrests of Jewish males. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Leo wished to get his sister, Frederica, out of Germany. He needed to be a US citizen to sponsor her, but was a few months short of the five year minimum residency required to apply for American citizenship. Leo applied anyway, explaining his family circumstances. With the help of the governor of New Jersey, he was able to obtain her visa and she arrived in the US in 1939. Leo and Bertha became naturalized American citizens that year. In 1940, Leo sponsored the emigration of Frederica’s daughter Johanna Cohn, her husband Arthur, and eighteen year…
history: The tallit and pouch were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Irma Cohn Clemens, the great-niece of Leo Nast.
identifier: irn73190
is or was included in: us-005578-irn47538
record resource extent: a: Height: 13.000 inches (33.02 cm) | Width: 66.875 inches (169.863 cm) b: Height: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Width: 9.875 inches (25.083 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Blue striped tallit with a maroon velvet storage bag used by Dr. Leo Nast, a chemical engineer who left Hamburg, Germany, for the United States in July 1934. A tallit is a prayer shawl worn by observant Jewish men during morning services. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Leo had long opposed the politics of Hitler and the Nazi Party and Leo and his wife Bertha decided to leave Germany. Their immigration was sponsored by the Catalin Corporation, a plastics company that employed Leo after his arrival in the US. The Nazi dictatorship enacted anti-Jewish laws and the persecution of Jews grew increasingly harsh. In 1939, Leo arranged for his mother, Frederica, to come to the US. In May 1940, he sponsored the immigration of his niece, Johanna Cohn, her husband Arthur, and their 18 year old daughter Irma, from Breslau, Germany.
title: Striped tallit and red velvet pouch used by a prewar German Jewish emigre