us-005578-irn73086-irn85726
type: RecordSet
archival history: The doll was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Elen Chajet Murad.
biographical history: Helene Elke Chajet was born on May 27, 1935, in Paris, France, to Tzvi Abba (Abel) and Chana Bursztejn (Burstein) Chajet. She had three siblings: Isaac, born in 1928, Eva, born in 1932, and Leon, born in 1940. Abel was born circa 1886 in Janow, Lithuania (now Poland) and had seven or eight siblings. He was a tailor, as was his father. Abel was drafted into the Russian army in World War I (1914-1918). After the war, he moved to Paris. Helene’s mother Chana was born in 1903 in Eishyshok (Eisiskes), Lithuania, and had seven siblings. Chana’s father Itsrok was rabbi and shochet. Chana moved to Paris with her cousins and worked as a dressmaker. Abel and Chana married on April 13, 1926. They lived in the Jewish Quarter, kept kosher, and went to the synagogue weekly. Abel operated his tailoring business out of the home and Chana worked with him until she had children. Helene spoke Yiddish with her parents and French with her siblings. Helene’s paternal uncle, Ajzik, his wife, and their three sons Libman, Zelick, and Szolow, as well as her maternal aunt, Dora, her husband, and their daughter, Esther, lived close by. Her maternal uncle, Eli Burstein, his wife, and their three daughters lived outside of Paris. On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded France. The Germans occupied Paris on June 14 and immediately restricted Jewish rights. Jewish stores were closed and Abel lost many customers. There were food shortages and their ration cards were stamped with a large J for Juif (Jew). After Leon was born, Chana was ill, so Helene, Eva, and Isaac stood in line for hours at the stores for food. There was often no food left, because it had been purchased by non-Jews earlier in the day. Beginning in 1941, many Jewish people were arrested, including Chana’s brother-in-law, who never returned. In the middle of the night, German Gestapo and French police came to Helene’s apartment to arrest the family. Chana wanted to heat a bottle of milk for Leon before they left and was thrown to the floor…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Stick figure roughly carved from a small piece of brown wood, with a narrow, beveled, rough hewn, rectangular body with a slit cut through the bottom quarter to create legs. It has a face with dot eyes and a small straight mouth drawn in black ink. A light brown wood splinter is inserted through the body below the face to form arms. It is wrapped in a piece of white, red, and purple plaid cloth, with a thin strip of cloth tied around the middle and sewn on the front with pink thread.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1943-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has end date: 1943-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn85726
is or was included in: us-005578-irn73086
record resource extent: overall: Height: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Width: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm) | Depth: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Small stick doll made by 8 year old Helene Chajet while in hiding in Arleuf, France. Helene was often lonely and had always wanted a doll, so she carved the doll out of a stick with a knife. Her foster mother gave her a scrap of cloth to dress it. Helene never named the doll but loved it and took it with her everywhere. France was occupied by Germany in June 1940. Helene was placed into hiding with Georges and Louise Dussert by her parents, Abel and Chana, after mass arrests in Paris in summer 1942. The entire village knew she was Jewish, but when the Germans searched Arleuf for partisans in 1943, no one gave her up. After the war ended in May 1945, Helene was reunited with her parents and three siblings, Eva, Isaac, and Leon, who had hidden separately. Almost all of Helene’s extended family perished in the Holocaust.
title: Small doll made from a stick by a French Jewish hidden child