us-005578-irn521884-irn515200
type: RecordSet
archival history: The picture frame was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Leah Derera.
biographical history: Leia Elerant was born on March 8, 1919, in Lipcani, Romania (Lipkany (Moldavian S.S.R.)), to Haim, an egg exporter, and Seiba Kreimer Elerant. Haim was born to Avrum and Frida Elerant. Seiba was born to Fruma and Shmiel Kreimer. Leia had two younger sisters, Nehoma and Genia, and one younger brother, Asher. The family was Orthodox, and Seiba kept a kosher home. Leia attended public school, had private Hebrew lessons, and participated in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. She spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, Romanian, and some Russian. Leia later worked as a dental technician. In 1937, she married her maternal uncle, Mechel (Muni) Kreimer, born in 1912. He had a fabric store in Lipcani. The German-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939 returned the Romanian provinces of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, in which Lipcani was located, to the Soviet Union. Romania had a long tradition of antisemitism, which was emboldened by the rise of Nazi Germany. General Antonescu and the fascist Iron Guard seized power in late 1940. Mechel’s business was confiscated. He and Leia moved to Cernauti and lived with an acquaintance of her father. She worked at a factory making rubber shoes. Leia supported the Soviet system until she was unable to receive a passport because she was Jewish. In summer 1941, she and Mechel walked to the Soviet-Romanian border, and stayed with her paternal uncle and his family. They learned that the Romanian authorities planned to kill anyone housing refugees from Cernauti, so Leia and Mechel left. Romanian soldiers stopped them, and an officer on horseback took Leia’s valise, wedding ring, and their watches. Leia and Mechel were taken to the Romanian police, put in a cellar, and questioned. The police sent them on a cattle car to Dornesti. Upon arrival, Leia was separated from Mechel and sent to a bathing house with Ukrainian women. Under Romanian guard, Leia and the women were forced to walk north from town to town to the Galician border. Peasants sometimes threw frui…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Picture frame in the shape of a sailboat model with a silver colored metal hull built on an incline that widens from the slightly pointed stern then tapers to the pointed bow. Near the bow is a brown metal mast with a triangular copper sail soldered to a thin rod. The frame is formed by a rectangular opening on the mast that faces a rectangular indent on a silver colored metal sphere near the stern. The sailboat is screwed to a rectangular, silver colored metal base support. On the front of the hull is an engraved word. On the top lower left corner of the base are engraved numbers and a Roman numeral. The hull, sphere, and base are polished and smooth. The underside is unfinished. boat, front, along hull, engraved : TRANSNISTRIA base, top, lower left corner, engraved : 8 III 944
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1944 January-1944 April
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn515200
is or was included in: us-005578-irn521884
record resource extent: overall: Height: 4.500 inches (11.43 cm) | Width: 5.750 inches (14.605 cm) | Depth: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Picture frame in the shape of a sailboat made for 25 year old Leia Kreimer in 1944 when she was imprisoned in Vapniarka concentration camp in Transnistria. It was made by Lazar, who had been a fellow inmate, in Rabnita prison as a gift for Leia. It has a red sail to represent communism. He had it smuggled to her with other inmates released from jail and sent back to Vapniarka. The inmates in Rabnita were forced to make sailing type items that were then sold. Lazar was executed in Rabnita. In mid-1941, the Fascist, antisemitic government of Romania sent Leia and her husband, Mechel, to Dornesti prison camp, where they were separated. In summer 1941, Leia was sent to a Jewish refugee camp in Zaleszczyki, Poland. In July 1942, she was deported to Swidowa labor camp. She escaped to Romania, but was jailed by the Germans for being a communist. In August, Leia was deported to Vapniarka and, in spring 1944, transferred to Grosulovo camp, then Targu-Jiu and Turnu Severin in Romania. The area was liberated by the Soviet Army on August 23. The majority of Leia’s family, including her husband, were killed during the Holocaust.
title: Sailboat shaped picture frame with a red sail created for a labor camp inmate by a fellow inmate