us-005578-irn531003-irn539509
type: RecordSet
archival history: The siddur was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Herta Griffel Baitch.
biographical history: Herta Griffel (b. 1933, later Herta Baitch) was born in Vienna, Austria, to Wolf (1888-1939) and Beila Nagel Griffel (1896-1942). Wolf was born in Krakow, Austria-Hungary, and Beila was from Majdan Średni, Kingdom of Poland, which was part of the Russian Empire. Both areas were integrated into Poland when the nation was created in the aftermath of WWI. Wolf and Beila moved to Vienna, were married in April 1930, and established a small grocery store. The family spoke German and Yiddish at home. Beila enjoyed sewing and embroidery, and Wolf loved to sing Yiddish songs with Herta from a songbook. Wolf had minor health issues, but Beila was able to manage the store and take care of her young daughter and husband when needed. On March 13, 1938, Austria was annexed into Germany, in what became known as the Anschluss. German authorities quickly created new legislation that restricted Jewish life. Jews were excluded from most professions and were forced to wear a yellow badge to identify themselves as Jews. On November 9-10, during the Kristallnacht pogrom, Jews and their businesses, homes, and places of worship were freely and openly attacked by the public and Nazi paramilitary units. Wolf and Beila’s grocery store was confiscated and Wolf was forced into compulsory labor. Every morning a truck took him and the other men in the neighborhood to a labor camp and brought them home at night. Wolf and Beila discussed the possibility of Wolf escaping to Shanghai, but those plans never came to fruition. The forced labor complicated Wolf’s health issues and one day after coming home, he died. After the loss of Wolf and the store, Beila and Herta moved in with Beila’s sister-in-law, Leah Nagel. After Kristallnacht, the Chief Rabbi of Vienna, Rabbi Mermelstein, sought to get as many children out of Vienna as he could. He began working with the German Jewish Children’s Aid Society, an American organization that helped resettle Jewish children in the United States. Biela was able to g…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: a.) Book, 446 pages; 19 cm. Small hardcover book printed in Hebrew and German fraktur font with a faded gray, cloth cover, half of a lock plate, and a centered, engraved, metal plate with decorative edges on the cover. The cover’s metal corner guards and two metal shell decorations are unattached and have left a purple residue on the surface. The brown, rounded spine has silver colored Hebrew characters and a silver colored bar at the top and bottom. b.) Thin, triangular silver colored metal corner piece with an ornate stamped scrollwork design. The piece was originally adhered to the front cover of the Siddur (a). The back has white adhesive residue and the front has black staining around the edges. c.) Thin, triangular silver colored metal corner piece with an ornate stamped scrollwork design. The piece was originally adhered to the front cover of the Siddur (a). The back has white adhesive residue and the front has black staining around the edges. front, flyleaf, handwritten, blue ink : Meiner lieben, braven / Schülerin Herta Griffel / zur Erinnerung an dei- / ne Wiener Schulzeit m[indiscernable] / innegen Wünschen! / 22. XI. 1940. Gertrud Adler-Winter / [indiscernable] [To my dear, good student Herta Griffel, as a reminder of your school years in Vienna and with devoted wishes! Gertrud Udler-Winter. November 22, 1940]
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1867-01-01
has end date: 1867-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had identifier: 2
has or had identifier: 3
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: heb
has or had subject: 683
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn539509
is or was included in: us-005578-irn531003
record resource extent: a: Height: 7.375 inches (18.733 cm) | Width: 5.250 inches (13.335 cm) | Depth: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) b: Height: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Width: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) c: Height: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm) | Width: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Jewish Siddur given to Herta Griffel by her teacher Gertrud Winter in 1940 before Herta’s emigration from Austria. Herta was a young girl living in Vienna, Austria with her parents, Wolf and Beila Nagel Griffel when Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss on March 13, 1938. German authorities quickly created new legislation that restricted Jewish life. On November 9 -10, during the Kristallnacht pogrom, Wolf and Beila’s grocery store was taken from them and Wolf was forced into compulsory labor. Every morning a truck took him and the other men in the neighborhood to a labor camp, and then brought them home at night. The forced labor complicated Wolf’s existing health issues and one day after coming home, he died. After Kristallnacht, Beila arranged for Herta to immigrate to the United States through the German Jewish Children’s Aid Society. On November 23, 1940 Herta left Vienna with eight other children and a chaperone and arrived in Jersey City, New Jersey, on December 23. Herta lived with the Baer family for six months, and then was placed with the Friedlander family until adulthood. On September 14, 1942, Herta’s mother Beila was deported from Vienna to Maly Trostinec concentration camp in Belorussia where she was murdered on September 18. Gertrud was deported from Vienna to Theresienstadt ghetto labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia, on September 24, 1942. On October 23, 1944, she was deported to Auschwitz Birkenau killing center in German occupied Poland, where she was murdered upon arrival.
title: Tefilot Yiśraʼel Siddur Prayers of the Israelites Siddur given as a gift to a young Austrian Jewish refugee girl before her emigration