The school box was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Judith and Eddie Weinstein.
Judith Weinstein (born Yehudit Wagner, b. 1932) was born in Rudnik, Poland (now Rudnik nad Sanem) to Chana (née Rheingold, 1903-1993) and Pinchos Wagner (1893-1979). Chana was born in Wieliczka, Poland to Necha (née Koenigsberger) and Isak Rheingold. Pinchos was born in Rudnik to Malka (née Kirschenbaum) and Nuchim Wagner. He had two brothers, Michael and Avraham, and one sister, Kayla. Pinchos, along with his two brothers, owned a wicker factory, Wagner Brothers Baskets Manufacturers & Exporters, and exported their products overseas. Avraham immigrated to the United States and worked to distribute their products in America. Judith had one younger sister, Charlotta (1936-?). On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II. On September 17, the Soviet Union joined the invasion from the east, and the two countries divided Poland along the Bug River. In October, the Germans expelled all the Jews from Rudnik, including the extended Wagner family. They were sent over the San River to Ulanow in Soviet-occupied territory. The Wagners then went to Winicki near Lvov (now Lviv, Ukraine). They stayed in Winicki for a few months, but they refused to take Soviet citizenship, so in spring 1940, the Soviets exiled the family to Siberia. Judith and her family were forced to live in Siberia for 14 to 16 months before being allowed to go south to the Ural Mountains and then to Kazakhstan. Judith’s aunt, Kayla, with her husband, was the only one of her father’s siblings to remain in Poland, and they were murdered in the Holocaust. In early 1946, the Wagners were repatriated as Polish citizens and taken to Bielawa in Lower Silesia. They lived there for approximately six months before leaving Poland with the help of the Bricha, an underground immigration movement that helped Jews from Eastern Europe move to Palestine and later Israel. The Wagners travelled with the Bricha through Czechoslovakia to Austria. In Austria, they stayed in a displaced persons (DP) camp in Vienna for six months, and then moved to the Wels DP camp. Judith worked as a teacher’s aide at the Wels camp and attended nursing school. Eventually, Judith’s uncle Avraham was able to provide the family with affidavits, and they arrived in New York City on June 2, 1951, aboard the USNS General Stewart. In 1955, Judith married Barry Shillet (1921-1975), a fellow survivor. Barry was from Działoszyn, Poland, and had been imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland and Dachau concentration camp in Germany. Judith and Barry lived in New York and had two children together. After Barry passed away in 1975, Judith married Eddie Weinstein (1924-2010) in 1985. Eddie was a Holocaust survivor from Losice, Poland, who had escaped from Treblinka II killing center in German-occupied Poland as a teenager.
Metal box painted burnt orange with a map of the southern tip of Africa printed on the lid in white. The map labels Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa, as well as their major cities. Three lines of Yiddish text are printed above the map. The right edge of the lid overlaps the right side of the box. The other three edges go inside the box. The lid is hinged at the left, with metal nails attaching it to the sides. Adhered to the interior of the lid are the corner remnants of a paper label with text in English and Yiddish. The lid is warped, caving in on the left side. The paint is worn off in several places showing black metal underneath, particularly around the edges, corners, and across the lid. The metal is scratched and dented throughout, and there is staining and residue across the lid. exterior lid, printed, white ink : Yiddish text [To our Jewish brothers and sisters from the Jewish community of South Africa] interior lid, top left corner of white paper label, printed, black ink : SOUTH(missing) / P.O.(missing) interior lid, top right corner of white paper label, printed, black ink : APPEAL / (missing)ICA. interior lid, bottom left corner of white paper label, printed, black ink : Phoenix, Jhb.-4918 interior lid, bottom right corner of white paper label, printed, black ink : partial Yiddish text
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overall: Height: 10.000 inches (25.4 cm) | Width: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Depth: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)
Metal school supply box sent by the South Africa Jewish Wars Appeal to the Wels displaced persons (DP) camp in Austria, and received by teenager Judith Wagner while she was living there from 1947-1951. The box originally held crayons, scissors, thread and needles, and writing materials, which Judith viewed as luxuries. Judith grew up in Rudnik, Poland with her younger sister Charlotta, and their parents, Chana and Pinchos. In October 1939, a month after Poland was invaded by Germany and the Soviet Union, the Germans deported the Wagners, with all other Jews in Rudnik, to Soviet-occupied territory. Judith and her family refused to take Soviet citizenship, so they were exiled to Siberia. They lived there for 14 to 16 months before being allowed to move to Kazakhstan, where they stayed for the remainder of the war. In early 1946, the Wagners were repatriated as Polish citizens and taken to Bielawa in Lower Silesia. They lived there for approximately six months before leaving Poland with the help of the Bricha, an underground immigration movement that helped Jews from Eastern Europe move to Palestine and later Israel. The family made it to Austria, where they stayed in a displaced persons camp in Vienna for six months, and then moved to the Wels DP camp. Judith worked as a teacher’s aide at the Wels camp and attended nursing school. Eventually, Judith’s paternal uncle, Avraham, was able to provide the family with affidavits. The family arrived in New York City on June 2, 1951, aboard the USNS General Stewart.
Metal school supply box inscribed in Yiddish used by a Polish Jewish teenager