us-005578-irn521901-irn515328
type: RecordSet
archival history: The tefillin bag was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Gisela Zamora, the wife of Joseph Zamora.
biographical history: Josef Joel Zamojre was born on June 28, 1921, in Greiz, Germany, to Marcus and Elinor Wiesenthal Zamojre. Marcus was born on August 16, 1893, in Zalozce, Poland (Zaliztsi, Ukraine), to Shalom and Esther Frish Zamojre. Elinor was born on May 15, 1889, in Lvov, Poland (Lviv, Ukraine), to Yosef Wiesenthal and Rachel Gefner. The family settled in Frankfurt am Main. They were observant and kept a kosher household. Marcus owned a pipe and tobacco store. The family was wealthy and vacationed annually with family in Greiz. The Nazi government that came to power in 1933 enacted severe anti-Jewish policies. Antisemitism increased and while on vacation in Greiz, Josef was tormented by anti-Jewish taunts. He nearly drowned the boy who made them, but his aunt intervened. In 1935, the Catholic principal of Josef’s school, Dr. Zeiger, told Marcus to transfer Josef to a Jewish school. He then attended the Jewish Philanthropin Reformrealgymnasium, a preparatory school for Cambridge University in England. In 1937, two British teachers were hired to teach all courses in English to facilitate eventual emigration; one often referred to the school as the “Jew school.” During Kristallnacht on November 10, 1938, the family hid in the attic. They could see synagogues burning and firemen protecting only Aryan homes. German SA members invaded the house and threw the family’s belongings out the windows. They found the family in the attic. One beat Marcus with a table leg and then swung it at Elinor, but only grazed her chin. Marcus was hospitalized and Elinor and Josef went into hiding in a friend’s home. They read a false report in a newspaper that a fight had broken out between Marcus and his neighbor and both had been taken to the hospital. After a few days, Marcus was released and the family returned home. On November 22, German SS officers took Josef to a fairground. He saw men down rolling on the ground while being kicked, and then loaded onto buses. One officer asked seventeen year old …
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular, faded dark green velvet pouch with a gathered top opening with 2 horizontal bands and 2 green cord drawstrings. The velvet folds over the top edge to meet the green cloth that lines the interior. The front has gold thread chain stitch embroidery and 2 Hebrew letters with the body of the letters filled with satin stitch and surrounded by a scrollwork design. The back has a large X with curved stitching that extends to each corner. There are holes and front vertical tears caused by age and use. front center exterior, embroidered, gold thread : [Hebrew] Yod Resh [May it be the will] (1 letter inverted)
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: approximately 1945 May
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: heb
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn515328
is or was included in: us-005578-irn521901
record resource extent: overall: Height: 7.875 inches (20.003 cm) | Width: 5.875 inches (14.923 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Tefillin storage bag buried for safekeeping by Marcus and Josef Zamojre while living in hiding in Taglio-di-Po, Italy. The pouch and tefillin, which had belonged to Marcus, were recovered by Josef after the war. Tefillin are small boxes containing prayers worn by Orthodox Jewish males during morning prayers. In December 1940, Josef and Marcus fled from Frankfurt in Nazi Germany, to Graz on the Austrian-Yugoslavian border. After several failed attempts to cross the border, they arrived in Zagreb in March 1941. In April, Germany invaded Yugoslavia and, in July, Josef and Marcus escaped to Italian occupied Ljubljana. In September 1943, Germany occupied northern Italy and Josef and Marcus went into hiding. In March 1944, they were discovered and deported by the Germans to Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. In October, Josef was sent to Auschwitz-Monowitz. In January 1945, Josef escaped a forced death march and hid in a barn owned by Polish farmers. After the war, he learned that Marcus died in Auschwitz in October 1944. Josef emigrated to the United States in 1947 and married Gisela Eckstein in 1952. Gisela, also from Germany, was a survivor of the Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Maerzdorf slave labor camp.
title: Tefillin storage pouch buried for safekeeping and recovered postwar