us-005578-irn523225-irn517974
identifier: irn517974
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Ink sketch with penciled underdrawing on offwhite cardstock depicting a harbor. There is a tugboat in the lower right with a rowboat on the port side. Along the dockside in the center are 5 barges with a loading conveyor on the dock. There are cranes and buildings on the wharf in the left background. There is German text in the lower left corner and the artist's signature in the lower right corner. The reverse has German text and numbers. front, lower left corner, black ink: Blick von der Ruhroter brucker uber das Hafenbecken. [View from a bridge over the Ruhrorter Dock] back, center, blue ink : Leop… Fe… back, lower right, pencil : 3675
archival history: The drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Michael G. Rossmann, the son of Nelly Rossmann.
scope and content: Ink drawing of a harbor in Duisburg, Germany, created by Nelly Rossmann. Nelly was a graphic designer for the Frankfurter Zeitung, a progressive newspaper in Frankfurt, Germany, when Hitler was appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933. Antisemitic legislation soon took away the rights of Jews. Nelly was a Quaker, but she had been born Jewish, and in 1935, she was fired due to a decree that Jews could not work in publishing. Nelly taught children crafts to support her 5 year old son, Michael. After the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, her parents left for England, but Nelly still had strong pro-German feelings and was not ready to leave her country. In 1939, she and Michael went to England to visit her family; while they were there, Germany invaded Poland and war broke out. They remained in England and, after the war ended in May 1945, they became British citizens.
biographical history: Nelly (Cornelia) Bertha Schwabacher was born on February 14, 1899, in Frankfurt, Germany to Anna Cahn and Heinrich Schwabacher. Her father, a merchant and dealer in rare coins, was from a large, wealthy, prominent Jewish family which had lived in Frankfurt for generations. She had an older brother, William (Willy) Heinrich, born in 1897. The family was assimilated and liberal, and considered themselves Germans. Her maternal grandfather, Adoph E. Cahn, was a prominent coin dealer and the family had been established in the area for generations. On January 30, 1930, Nelly married Alexandre Sasha Rossmann, a member of a wealthy, non-Jewish family from Wiesbaden. Their son, Michael, was born on July 30. Alexandre’s father was a professor and principal of the local Gymnasium. His mother was extremely antisemitic and refused to speak to Nelly. His brother, Bruno, was a dedicated Nazi Party member. Despite the family's anti-Semitism, Nelly and Alexandre's son, Michael, often had enjoyable family visits with his father's family. Nelly and Alexandre divorced in 1933 and Nelly and her son lived with her parents. Her mother looked after the child when Nelly started to work full time as a graphic artist for the Frankfurter Zeitung, a highly respected democratic and intellectual newspaper published since 1866. Around this time, Nelly, a pacifist, became a member of the Society of Quakers. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. By summer, the Nazi dictatorship was firmly established: the civil rights of all Germans were eliminated and anti-Jewish laws had been enacted. Jews were no longer allowed to work in government positions and there were restrictions placed upon their participation in other areas of economic and cultural life in Germany. In 1935, Nelly was fired from Der Zeitung due to a government decree that Jews could not work in the publishing industry. To support her family, she opened a crafts studio where she gave lessons to Jewish children. Mic…
record resource extent: overall: Height: 7.000 inches (17.78 cm) | Width: 9.500 inches (24.13 cm)
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn523225-irn517974/alternateIDs/1
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has or had some members with language: deu
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
has record set type: Item
title: View from a bridge over the Ruhrorter Dock Sketch of a dock with a tugboat and barges drawn by a German Jewish refugee
type: RecordSet
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1934-12-31
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn523225-irn517974/acquisitions/1
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1934-01-01
is or was included in: us-005578-irn523225