Handmade, shallow, rectangular silver colored metal box with rounded corners and remnants of nickel plated brass on the hinged, shallow lipped lid. The lid separates vertically in the center into two sections and is hinged on both ends with plates soldered to the base interior and to the lid. It opens outward to reveal a single interior compartment. The lid is incised with a decorative line border. An oval latch with a knob is riveted to the center edge of the right lid; it pivots onto the left lid to secure the box. When closed, the left lid rests upon a thin plate soldered to the underside of the right lid. The right lid exterior has engraved Polish text; the left lid has Hebrew and Yiddish text engraved on the underside. The letters are decorated with incised lines. The surface is scratched and has some green corrosion. lid exterior, right side, engraved : POPIERAJCIE HACHNOSAS KALO GMULAS CHASODIM WOLBORSKA 20 [Support for ushering in a new Torah and giving charity Wolborska 20] lid interior, left side, engraved : Hebrew text [Support for a new Torah(?possibly for brides) and giving charity Wolborska 20]
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The box was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Rafal Imbro.
overall: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm) | Depth: 5.375 inches (13.653 cm)
Handmade engraved metal box used in Łódź, Poland, to collect funds for charity. The address, 20 Wolborska, engraved on the box, is the location of the main synagogue in Łódź which was set on fire in November 1939 by the German forces who occupied the city that September. A tzedakah box is used by Jewish communities as a physical reminder to be charitable and help others. The message on this box asks contributors to show support by ushering in a new Torah. On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and, one week later, occupied Łódź. They renamed it Litzmannstadt and in February 1940 relocated all the Jews, roughly 100,000 people, into a sealed ghetto. Prewar Łódź was a thriving industrial city and the ghetto continued to be an important manufacturing center. Daily life and social and economic activity in the ghetto was handled by a Council of Jewish Elders who reported to the German authorities. There were continual food shortages and death from starvation was common. By September 1942, the Germans has deported the majority of the residents to Chelmno killing center. The ghetto was destroyed in May 1944.
Inscribed metal tzedakah box used to collect money for charity in Łódź