Partially embroidered tablecloth made by a Belgian Jewish woman recovered postwar

Partially embroidered tablecloth made by a Belgian Jewish woman recovered postwar 

Partially embroidered tablecloth made by a Belgian Jewish woman recovered postwar 

overall: Height: 32.750 inches (83.185 cm) 

White tablecloth partially embroidered by Salomea Fejnman Poler circa 1940-41, in Anderlecht, Belgium, and recovered by David Poler, her father-in-law, after the war. The persecution of Jewish persons in Belgium by German authorities after the May 1940 invasion, made it extremely difficult for Salomea, 33, to care for her five children, ages ten to two: Jeannine, Lilian, Rosette, Fanny, and Abraham. Salomea sought safe hiding place for them, and Abraham was placed with Catholic priests and the girls in a convent. In September 1942, Salomea was sent to Mechelen (Malines) transit camp and then deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where she was killed. The five children, and their paternal grandparents, who living in hiding in a hospital, survived the war. Salomea’s eight siblings in Poland perished. After the war ended in May 1945, the children lived in Jewish orphanages until joining their father in Venezuela.