us-005578-irn522035-irn522162
type: RecordSet
archival history: The tefillin bag was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Iris Herta Avni-Menzer, the daughter of Eduard Menzer.
biographical history: Herta (Iris) Menzer was born December 11, 1928, in Nitra, Czechoslovakia (Nitra, Slovakia), to Eduard, born January 29, 1889, in Racisdorf and Aurelia Zlata Lamm, born April 7, 1899. Herta had an older brother, Yehuda Alfred Miron, born April 3, 1927, and a younger sister, Mirka, born January 5, 1938. The family lived in Bratislava. Eduard was a wealthy wine importer and exporter. The family shared a large house with Eduard’s brother, Gyula, and his family. The family was Jewish Orthodox and spoke German at home. In September 1938, Nazi Germany annexed the Sudeten border region and, in March 1939, the Bohemia-Moravia area of Czechoslovakia. A pro-German fascist regime took control of the Slovakia region where the Menzer family lived. The Menzer's were forced by the government to sell their home at a huge loss to non-Jewish owners. The family moved in with Herta’s maternal aunt, Luisa Schlesinger, in Nitra. They were slated to be deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, but Luisa saved them from the transport train at the last minute. In mid-1942, Slovakia began transferring its Jews to German custody for deportation to concentration camps. In 1943, Herta attempted to escape to Hungary. She was caught and imprisoned for six weeks and then sent to Novaky labor camp, where her parents and Mirka were interned. The Slovak Jewish Center had persuaded the Slovak government to set up work camps where Jews could go instead of being deported. Cultural activities were an important part of camp life and Herta, who was trained on the piano, and Mirka performed in concerts. Alfred was arrested in Budapest and sent to a labor camp in Hungary. In August 1944, Slovakian rebels, including fighters from the Novaky camp, attempted to overthrow the pro-Nazi, Tiso government. During the rebellion, Novaky was liberated and Herta, Mirka, and their parents fled to the Tatra Mountains. German troops invaded to suppress the rebellion, and by October 27, the Slovak National Uprising was quash…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Round bottomed, rectangular, drawstring pouch made from 5 pieced sections of faded dark green cotton sateen with dark green and narrow red and yellow vertical stripes. The dark green cotton drawstring runs through a hemmed channel along the top opening. The bag has been repaired and has small holes.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: after 1945 March, before 1944 December 14
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn522162
is or was included in: us-005578-irn522035
record resource extent: overall: Height: 8.000 inches (20.32 cm) | Width: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Green sateen bag used to store tefillin by Eduard Menzer, hidden and then recovered after the war by his wife, Aurelia. Tefillin are small boxes with leather straps used by Orthodox Jewish males during morning prayers. The family was living in hiding in the Tatra mountains when, on December 13, 1944, German soldiers burst into the hut where Eduard was saying morning prayers. They yanked off his tallit and tefillin, threw them to the ground, and arrested Eduard. His wife, Aurelia, and daughters had run off, but later returned for the tefillin and pouch. They moved to another hiding place where Aurelia hid the items in a feedbag in a stable. In 1942, Eduard, Aurelia, and their three children: Alfred, age 15, Herta (Iris), age 14, and Mira, age 4, were evicted from their home in Bratislava by the fascist government of Slovakia because they were Jews. In 1943, the family was deported to Novaky forced labor camp, except for Alfred, who was sent to a labor camp in Hungary. In August 1944, after the failure of the Slovak National Uprising, the Novaky prisoners were released and the family fled to the Tatra mountains. Eduard was executed on January 9, 1945. The region was liberated in March 1945. Aurelia retrieved the tefillin and pouch and returned to Nitra. After the war ended in May 1945, Alfred rejoined them, having survived Auschwitz and Bunzlau concentration camps. Herta and Alfred soon left for Palestine; Aurelia and Mira arrived in Israel in 1949.
title: Green striped sateen tefillin pouch hidden and recovered postwar by a Czech Jewish family