us-005578-irn47866-irn50302
type: RecordSet
archival history: The matchbox was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Yvonne Harpuder, the widow of Ralph Harpuder.
biographical history: Ralf Heinz Harpuder was born on April 12, 1934, in Berlin, Germany, to Hans (Hern) and Gerda Lewin Harpuder. Hans was born on November 26, 1901, in Berlin to Gertrude Hannes Harpuder. Gerda was born on November 21, 1905, in Berlin to Joseph and Selma Nathanson Lewin. Selma was born on July 20, 1878, in Mammendorf. Hans worked in sales and took over his father’s factory that manufactured ropes and canvases; Gerda was a shopkeeper. Ralf had one older sister, Ursula, born in 1925. Gerda and Hans married on December 26, 1931. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, anti-Jewish legislation and restrictions became increasingly harsh. Hans’ brothers, Alfred and Erich, emigrated to the United States circa December 1938. After the Kristallnacht pogrom on November 9-10, 1938, Hans lived in hiding with friends to avoid arrest until he could confirm plans to leave Germany. The family decided to leave for Shanghai in Japanese-occupied China because it was an open port with no visa required. In early 1939, the family and Gerda’s mother, Selma, took a train to Trieste, Italy, and boarded the SS Conte Verde. In March, they arrived in Shanghai and a Jewish organization transported the family to a refugee boarding home in the Hongkew district. Their possessions were sent to Shanghai by a German man who was an expediter for a van and storage company. They sold many of those valuables which provided them with enough money to live in their own apartment and co-own a delicatessen with Gerda’s cousin, Kaethe Benjamin. The store closed after a year and Hans started an ice block company. The family was active in the Jewish community and celebrated the high holidays in rented movie theaters. Ralf attended a Jewish refugee school, the Kadoorie school, and learned Japanese. He played with other immigrant children and Japanese children in the remnants of bombed buildings. He went to the movies often and collected and traded cigarette sleeves with the other children. After the Japanese at…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular, thin paper covered wooden matchbox with an outer cover with open short sides that slides over an inner drawer. The cover has an abrasive black striker panel on the long sides. The face of the cover has a printed image of a white plane with the red Rising Sun symbol of Japan upon a yellow background whihc has just dropped a bomb on the United States and British flags below. There are Japanese characters printed in black ink on the upper and lower center.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1939 March, approximately 1942
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: jpn
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn50302
is or was included in: us-005578-irn47866
record resource extent: overall: Height: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm) | Width: 1.500 inches (3.81 cm) | Depth: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Japanese matchbox acquired postwar by Ralph (Ralf) Harpuder. This box features an image of a Japanese plane dropping a bomb on the United States and British flags. Four year old Ralf, his parents, Hans and Gerda, and his 14 year old sister, Ursula, left Berlin, Germany, following Kristallnacht on November 9-10, 1938. They left for Shanghai because it was an open port with no visa required and arrived in March 1939. Shanghai was controlled by the Japanese military and as the war intensified, they were relocated to the Hongkew ghetto. Food and supplies became extremely difficult to obtain, but Ralf was able to stay in school because they waived his tuition. The city was liberated by the US Army on September 3, 1945. That October, Ralf's father died of malnutrition. In March 1947, the family emigrated to the United States.
title: Japanese propaganda matchbox with a Japanese plane bombing the US and British flags acquired postwar by a German Jewish refugee