us-005578-irn564043-irn594236
type: RecordSet
archival history: The bowl was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by Lynda Cohen, the daughter of Sara Kupinski Cohen.
biographical history: Sara Kupinski (later Cohen, 1932- ?) was born in Vilna (Wilno), Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania) to Eliasz (Eli, 1897-?) and Slawa (1902-?) Tsigelnitsky (Cegelnicki) Kupinski. Sara’s younger brother, Hirsz (b. 1933, later Hirsh Kupinsky), was born in Lida, Poland (now Belarus). Eli was born in Lida to Nathan and Lotte Kupinski, and had a brother named Samuel (1906-?.) Slawa was born to Pesach Tsigelnitsky and his first wife, who died shortly after Slawa’s birth. Slawa had an older brother, Chaim. Pesach later married Malka, his wife’s sister, and they had a son, Manya. The family lived in Vilna, and Pesach worked as a harness maker and saddler supplying Polish Cavalry units. Slawa completed her schooling and graduated from the local university. Later, Slawa married Eli. In March 1935, Eli, Samuel, and Jakob Radunski bought a large tract of land outside of Lida so they could ship lumber to England. They also sold milk and cheese to the Polish Air Force. When Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland, in September 1939, the Kupinski family was living on Eli’s land. Though Vilna was returned to Lithuania, Lida and the surrounding area fell under Soviet control, becoming part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. As landowners, Eli and Samuel, were classified as wealthy capitalists and had to flee just after the invasion. They went to live with Slawa’s parents, Pesach and Malka, in Vilna. Later that fall, Slawa, Sara, and Hirsz were smuggled across the border and joined Eli and Samuel in Vilna. On June 15, 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Lithuania, and later annexed it. Soviet exit visas were now required to escape from Europe via the eastern route to Asia, one of the two remaining ways for Jews to leave. In order to acquire an exit visa from Soviet-controlled Lithuania, Sara’s family needed two visas: a Japanese transit visa, and a visa for another country, money, and transport to continue on to that country. In summer 1940, Samuel and Eli travelled to Kovno (…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Smooth, circular silver bowl supported by three S-shaped legs with flattened, paw shaped feet fixed to the rounded base. The bowl has straight sides, a thin, flared rim with a rolled lip, and two, small mounts soldered to the rim opposite each other. Extending from each mount is a thick, wavy wire curving up to the center and forming a circular loop that interlocks with the other side before doubling back down, creating an arched, pivoting handle. Applied to the exterior is a Chinese dragon, in detailed relief, with its sinuous, scaled body wrapping all the way around the bowl. Between the open mouth and the pointed tail is a smooth, raised, circular disc. The dragon has deep set eyes, tendrils curling from its nose, a head frill, a low spine fin, and four short legs with clawed feet. A stamped maker’s mark is centered on the underside. The plain interior is worn and there is light tarnish throughout.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1941 November-1948 December 31
has beginning date: 1900-01-01
has end date: 1940-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: zho
has or had some members with language: eng
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn594236
is or was included in: us-005578-irn564043
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Depth: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Decorative, Zee Sung Silver bowl acquired by Sara Kupinski’s (later Cohen) family in Shanghai, China, where her family fled using Japanese and Dutch transit visas supplied by diplomats in Soviet-occupied Kovno, (Kaunas), Lithuania. Sara lived outside of Lida, Poland (now Belarus) with her parents, Eliasz and Slawa, brother, Hirsz, and uncle, Samuel. Following Germany and the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland in September 1939, Eli and Samuel fled to Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania) because they were considered wealthy landowners. Slawa, Hirsz, and Sara later joined them. Having obtained their transit visas in August 1940, Sara’s family left later that year, traveling on the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Vladivostock. In early 1941, they took a boat to Kobe, Japan. That fall, they were forced to go to Japanese-controlled Shanghai. Samuel and Eli found work at a Jewish import and export company, and Sara and Hirsz attended the Jewish school. In early 1943, Japanese authorities ordered that all stateless refugees must live within a designated area, which came to be known as the Shanghai or Hongkew ghetto. In the summer of 1945, following the German surrender in May, US forces bombed Shanghai heavily. On August 14, Japan surrendered to the US. The Kupinski family learned that Slawa’s brothers had survived in France, but that her parents were killed in the Vilna ghetto in 1942 or 1943. Eli’s parents likely died in Siberia. In 1949, the family settled in Toronto, Canada.
title: Silver bowl with a dragon owned by a Lithuanian Jewish refugee in the Shanghai Ghetto