us-005578-irn516003
biographical history: Shmuel Rabinovitz (later Elhanan) was born on February 12, 1930 in Kovno (Kaunus), Lithuania, to Dr. Yitzchak Elhanan and Shulamit Rosenblum Rabinovitch. His mother was born in 1901 in Minsk, Russia, and his father in 1900 in Kaunus. His father was named after his grandfather, the renowned Talmudist and Chief Rabbi of Lithuania, Rabbi Yitzchak Elhanan Spektor. Yitzchak left Kovno in the 1920s to study chemistry at the University of Berlin. He met Shulamit, who was studying the Montessori educational method. She had fled Minsk following the Russian Revolution in 1917. They married in 1924. Shmuel had two older brothers, Amos, born in 1925, and Binyamin, born in 1926. The family returned to Kovno in 1927 and Yitzchak went to work in his family's hardware business. The Rabinovitch' were ardent Zionists and the boy attended the Schwabe Hebrew Gymnasium. In April 1940, Shmuel’s brothers emigrated legally to Palestine via Moscow, joining their maternel grandparents. That June, Kovno was occupied by the Soviet Union. Jewish institutions were closed and property was confiscated. On June 22, 1941, Kovno was occupied by Nazi Germany. In early July, German mobile killing units, assisted by local Lithuanians, perpetrated a series of systematic massacres of the Jewish population in the area. On August 15, Shmuel and his family were forced into the sealed ghetto. Yitzchak worked as the deputy head of the German labor office under Lieutenant Gustav Hermann, who was known for his decency. Hermann left his deputy in charge of the day to day operations of the office, and Yitzchak was able to use his position to help his fellow Jews. At times, Hermann would inform Yitzchak of German plans for the ghetto, and he would forward the information to the Jewish Council. Shmuel attended vocational school and learned metalwork and woodwork. His Bar Mitzvah took place in the ghetto. The Germans were constantly reducing the size of the ghetto and, in October 1941, destroyed the section known as …
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1944-01-01
type: RecordSet
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn516003/acquisitions/1
record resource extent: overall: Height: 7.000 inches (17.78 cm) | Diameter: 6.125 inches (15.558 cm)
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1945-12-31
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn516003/alternateIDs/1
scope and content: Tin bucket made in Kaufering concentration camp for 14 year old Shmuel Rabinovitz by the head tinsmith. It originally had a cover, but it was lost. The large size of the pail was very helpful for Shmuel. He was often able to get a larger serving of soup and he could keep his bread portion in it as well. Shmuel carried the pail with him on the death march in April 1945 when the Germans evacuated the camp because of approaching US troops. Shmuel and his parents, Yitzchak and Shulamit, were incarcerated in the Jewish ghetto in Kovno (Kaunus], Lithuania, after the Germans occupied the city in June 1941. The ghetto was taken over by the SS and converted to Kauen concentration camp in fall 1943. The Germans prepared to destroy the ghetto in the summer of 1944 and Shmuel and his family were deported in July to Dachau. Shmuel was then sent to Kaufering forced labor camp, a Dachau subcamp. He was liberated during the death march to Dachau on May 2, 1945. He was reunited with his parents at a displaced persons camp in Travisio, Italy in July. Four months later, they emigrated to Palestine.
has or had holder: us-005578
identifier: irn516003
title: Tin pail made for one prisoner by another in Kaufering concentration camp
archival history: The pail was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1998 by Shmuel Elhanan.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has record set type: Item
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Lightweight silver colored tin pail with a rusted iron-alloy wire handle inserted, then bent upward, through a small circular hole in a rectangular tab nailed, then bent outward, on each side of the pail near the rim. The rim has been folded over and hammered around a circle of the same wire to shape and reinforce it. The single side seam and bottom rim seam are hammered flat; the base is slightly irregular. The pail is smooth, but mottled, with some scratches and corrosion.