us-005578-irn627160-irn634491
type: RecordSet
archival history: The hat was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Rosemarie Russi Howe, the niece of Dr. Henry Kupfer.
biographical history: Chil Gershon Kupferblum (later Henry Kupfer, 1909 - 1964) was born in Pińczów, Poland, to David Kupferblum (1881-1941?) and Miriam (Mania or Maria, 1885-1941?) nee Wechsler. Chil’s father, David, was a successful businessman, and the family lived comfortably in a spacious apartment building in Sandomierz, Poland. Chil had three siblings: Fela (1906-1942), Gertrude (Gita, later Russi, 1912-2006), and Leon Eliezer (David, 1919-1942?). Sandomierz had a large and prosperous Jewish community with a rich, long-standing cultural tradition. Many of Chil’s extended family members lived in Sandomierz, including a family of Kupferblum second cousins who lived in their building. Chil studied medicine at Karlova University in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). While in medical school, Chil invited his friend Simon Russi (1911-1991) to visit his family in Sandomierz, and there he met Chil’s sister, Gertrude. Chil received his M.D. in 1935, and later married Lora Shapira (Lara, 1914-1941?), who was from Rovno, Poland (now Rivne, Ukraine). Chil completed his residency at the City Hospital in Łódź, Poland, between 1936 and 1938. Chil’s older sister, Fela, was a teacher by training, though worked as a bank teller because antisemitism barred most Jews from teaching. In 1936, Fela married her second cousin, Antek Abram Kupferblum (later Anthony Kuper, 1903-1987), a chemist in the fur-dying industry, and the couple moved to Warsaw. In 1938, Chil and Lora had a daughter, Tamara (1938-1941?). Simon and Gertrude married in April 1938, in Pisa, Italy. In late November 1938, the couple boarded the SS Conte di Savoia in Genoa, Italy, and sailed for the United States. Simon finished his medical residency in Saint Louis, Missouri. In 1939, Chil became an attending physician at the City Hospital in Rovno. That same year in September, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. As agreed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, the two nations divided Poland between them. All ter…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: A child’s brown, shearling winter hat with triangular ear flaps and a decorative, colorful stitched thread design. The exterior of the hat is the tanned, leather side of the shearling, while the interior bears the clipped, cream-colored fur as lining. The body of the hat is domed, constructed of four panels sewn together along the sides, the points meeting at the top, where there is a leather-covered button. Several bands of purple, pink, and cream-colored woven thread material herringbone-stitched in crisscross and zig-zag lines along the seams. Additional sections of material with dark brown fur on one side are sewn along the bottom edge of the body panels. There are two larger, triangular pieces, one per side, which form ear flaps, plus narrower sections at the front and back. The front, arched section is tacked in place, creating a decorative trim above the wearer’s face, while the back and side panels create additional protection over the ears and neck when worn down, or additional trim if folded up over the body of the hat. There is a length of green, twill cloth at the end of each ear flap so that they can be secured beneath the wearer’s chin, or up at the top of the hat when not in use. The hat is worn and misshapen from use.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1939-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had subject: 2032
has or had subject: 1106
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn634491
is or was included in: us-005578-irn627160
record resource extent: overall: Height: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Diameter: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Child's winter hat purchased by Dr. Chil Kupferblum (later Henry Kupfer), for his daughter, Tamara Kupferblum, while serving in the Soviet Army as a surgeon during World War II (1939-1945). In 1935, Chil received his M.D. from Karlova University in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). He married Lora Shapira, and in 1938, their daughter Tamara was born. Chil’s sister, Fela, married chemist Antek Kupferblum (later Anthony Kuper), and they later settled in Warsaw. His other sister, Gertrude, married his friend, Dr. Simon Russi, and the couple immigrated to the United States. Chil was an attending physician in Rovno, Poland (now Rivne, Ukraine), when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, and divided the territory between them. Chil’s parents, and brother, Leon, moved from Sandomierz to Rovno. Chil joined the Soviet Army, and served in a military hospital in Novosibirsk. He was still serving when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in summer 1941, and occupied Rovno on June 28. After the war ended in May 1945, Chil returned home to Rovno to learn that most of his family had been killed. Three-year-old Tamara, his wife, Lora, and parents, David and Miriam, were likely massacred in November 1941, in the nearby Sosenki Forest. His brother, Leon, had likely been killed in a ghetto liquidation, and his sister, Fela, had been murdered at Teblinka killing center in 1942. Fela’s husband, Antek, and daughter, Ewa, had survived in hiding. In 1947, Chil immigrated to the US, and later married a fellow survivor, Gertrude Zoberman.
title: Child’s hat purchased by Dr. Henry Kupfer for his daughter, Tamara Kupferblum