us-005578-irn523452-irn518255
physical characteristics and technical requirements: a. Childsize light stained wooden violin. The scroll at the top attaches to the peg box; 4 dark stained, wood pegs, with mother of pearl accents, extend through the box. Four strings rest on the end nut, one wrapped around each peg. The nut and fingerboard are stained dark, with a missing rib on the upper left. The bottom of the head has tape remnants. The bridge has an indentation at the top for each string; the hourglass shaped body has decorative cut-outs and an f-shaped sound hole on each side. The strings are attached to the dark stained tailpiece which is attached to the end button by a metal wire. There is tape on the back edges. b. Black leather covered violin case with a wooden frame, a convex lid, 2 metal feet on the bottom, and 1 at the top back. There are 3 silver-colored metal hinges on one side and 2 silver-colored clasps on the other. A brown leather handle is attached to the case by silver-colored brackets on the clasp side. A diamond shaped plate with key hole is nailed to the left side of the handle. There is an elongated oval metal foot nailed to the bottom. Black tape covers the top edge of the lid; floral patterned paper covers the top interior and the upper half of the bottom interior. A small wood compartment, lined with floral paper, at the scroll end of the case, has a cover with a black felt tab to open. There is tape on the interior top of the lid and a green, felt covered, metal clip on the interior bottom. There is a wood support, covered with green felt, and floral paper, with a suede strap, in the bottom of the case to hold the neck of the violin. The bottom half of the case is lined with green felt.
date: before 1943 September
has end date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1943-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
type: RecordSet
has beginning date: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/dates/1936-01-01
has record set type: Item
record resource extent: a: Height: 19.250 inches (48.895 cm) | Width: 6.875 inches (17.463 cm) | Depth: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) b: Height: 26.250 inches (66.675 cm) | Width: 8.500 inches (21.59 cm) | Depth: 4.125 inches (10.478 cm)
is or was included in: us-005578-irn523452
title: Childsize violin and case of a young Jewish Lithuanian boy killed in the Ponary massacre
archival history: The violin and case were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Anna Nodel and Regina Gordon.
identifier: irn518255
biographical history: Niusia Golden (Gordon, now Anna Nodel) was born on September 15, 1925, to Moishe and Basia Gurwicz Golden in Swieciany (Svencionys), Lithuania, about 50 miles north of Vilnius (Vilna.) The families had been there for five generations. Her parents were married in 1924. Moishe’s training as a lawyer was curtailed by World War I (1914-1918) and he worked as a clerk in a law office. He was fluent in several languages and also ran a cattle business with his brother Tevye. He had eight siblings. Basia was also well educated and grew up in a well-to-do family on an estate in Stratcha. When her father died, Basia became head of the family. They owned a large apartment building in Swieciany and had a live-in nanny, Karolne. Niusia had three younger siblings, Riva, born 1929, Boruch, born 1930, and Tevya, born 1933. It was a religious household. Niusia went to a Jewish preschool where she learned Hebrew, then attended private Polish schools. In 1939, Lithuania signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. Moishe was put in charge of arranging forced labor groups for the Lithuanian authorities, as part of their agreement with Germany. In the summer of 1940, Lithuania was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union. The Jewish population increased by thousands as refugees fled German-occupied Poland. In the spring, Germany attacked the Soviet Union and occupied Lithuania. The police chief told Moishe about the murders of Jews that accompanied the German advance and the family moved out to the farm. Shortly before and after the German invasion, Lithuanians carried out violent riots against the Jews. Then came detachments of German Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), which with Lithuanian auxiliaries, murdered thousands of Jews. In August 1941, the Gordon family was forced into the Swieciany ghetto. Niusia worked on a German farm on the outskirts of the village. Moishe was a member of the Judenrat (Jewish Council). He and the head of the council, Dr. Taraseski, were beaten and …
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn523452-irn518255/alternateIDs/1
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn523452-irn518255/acquisitions/1
scope and content: Childsize violin and case that belonged to 13 year old Boruch Golden, who was killed in the massacres at Ponary in September 1943. Baruch began playing the violin when he was 6 years old. It was saved by his sister, Niusia (Anna), who survived the war in hiding. Following the invasion of Soviet territory by Germany in spring 1941, the Golden family, the parents, Moshe and Basia, and 4 children: Niusia, Riva, Boruch, and Tevya, were forced into the Swieciany (Svencionys) ghetto in Lithuania. When it was liquidated by the Germans in April 1943, the family was separated. Niusia refused to get in the cattle cars and went into hiding. The rest were deported to the Vilna ghetto. Moshe was sent to Klooga concentration camp; he did not survive. When Vilna was liquidated, Basia and the two boys were taken to Ponary and murdered. Rywa was sent to Kaiserwald, the first of several concentration camps where she would be imprisoned until she was liberated in Laenburg, Germany, by the Soviet Army in 1945. Niusia remained in hiding in Swieciany. After the war ended in May 1945, she learned that her sister was alive. They began corresponding and Niusia told her sister to stay in Germany, since emigration was not possible from Swieciany. In 1948, Rywa emigrated to Canada. In the fall of 1958, she made arrangements for Niusia and her family to come to Canada and the sisters were finally reunited.
conditions of use: No restrictions on use