us-005578-irn518555-irn36847
type: RecordSet
archival history: The golem pendant was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Michael Gruenbaum, the son of Margaret Gruenbaum.
biographical history: Margarete Popper (1899-1974) was born in Leitmeritz, Austria-Hungary (now Litomerice, Czech Republic). In 1925, she married Karel Grünbaum (1897-1941), who was born in Ceska Kamenice, to Eduard and Elizabeth Zucker Grünbaum. They had two children, Marietta (1926-2008) and Michael (b.1930). The family lived a very comfortable life in Prague. Karel, like his father and brother, was a prosperous attorney. He was one of the most prominent lawyers at the firm of Petschek & Co. He was also active in several Jewish communal organizations, and regularly took Michael to the synagogue with him. In the fall of 1938, the Munich Pact was signed, allowing Germany to annex the Czech Sudetenland border region. On March 15, 1939, Germany violated the pact by seizing the remaining Czechoslovakian regions of Bohemia and Moravia. Karel was in England on business at the time, but he soon returned home. Not long after, he lost his position at the firm, and the family’s property was confiscated because they were Jewish. The family was forced to wear yellow Star of David patches and leave their apartment. Margarete and Karel moved to a smaller apartment, while the children moved in with relatives. Later, they were all forced to move to the ghetto in Prague, and Michael was expelled from school. In September 1941, Reinhard Heydrich became Reich Protector of occupied Bohemia and Moravia. The persecution of Jews increased, and deportation plans were formed by German authorities. In October 1941, Karel was arrested by the Gestapo and detained in Pankrác prison in Prague. On December 3, Karel, was sent to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp, which had opened about 60 miles north of Prague on November 24. Karel was transferred to the Small Fortress at Theresienstadt bearing the designation Return Undesirable (RU). He was murdered there on December 18, 1941. After learning of Karel’s death, Margarete began to entrust the family’s few remaining valuables to non-Jewish friends throughout the city, wit…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Small, thin, rectangular, gold-colored pendant oriented horizontally and suspended from an approximately four-inch long loop of twisted, gold-colored metal thread attached to a fixed, circular bail centered on the pendant’s upper edge. The front is slightly inset with an embossed, gold-colored design at the same height as the partial border, along the edges at both ends. The design consists of three, vertically oriented words in uppercase letters, the central word Golem flanked by Praha and Prague at the ends, which are separated from each other by narrow rectangles of latticework. The space around the embossed design is filled by brown paint. There is a raised bracket around the first and last letter of Golem, which is the same height as the text and the partial borders. On the shiny reverse, there is also a partial border at both ends with a short, additional segment at the center of each long side. Hebrew characters are embossed at the center. The gold color is wearing away on the front text, and the brown paint is flaking in a few spots.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1942 November 20-1945
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 2
has or had identifier: 3
has or had some members with language: heb
has or had some members with language: ces
has or had some members with language: eng
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn36847
is or was included in: us-005578-irn518555
record resource extent: overall: Height: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Width: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Pendant given to Margarete Grünbaum (later Margaret Gruenbaum) in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp by a fellow inmate who worked with her in the camp’s Arts Department between November 1942 and May 1945. Before Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in 1939, Margarete lived in Prague with her husband, Karel, and their children, Marietta and Michael. In October 1941, Karel was arrested by the Gestapo and detained in Pankrác prison in Prague. On December 3, Karel was sent to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp, where he was killed on the 18th in the Small Fortress. On November 20, 1942, Margarete, Michael, and Marietta were sent to the ghetto-labor camp aboard transport Cc. Margarete was sent to work in the art studio where she made artificial flowers, teddy bears, and stage sets for theater productions. When the family received orders for deportation to Auschwitz killing center in German-occupied Poland in the fall of 1944, Margarete’s job in the workshop saved her family. She asked her boss, the Dutch artist, Josef Spier, to help her convince the German camp guard in charge of the department that her work, creating teddy bears and others toys for Germans for the Christmas season, was important enough to keep her and her children in Terezín. The guard wanted toys for his family, so he removed them from the transport list and they remained at Theresienstadt. They were liberated from the camp on May 8, 1945, by the Soviet Army.
title: Golem pendant made by a Jewish prisoner in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp