us-005578-irn78324-irn78325
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Gray colored, pressed aluminum cap badge in the shape of an oak leaved wreath with acorns with a spread winged Imperial eagle over the center. The left facing eagle has textured feathers and grasps in its talons an oak leaved wreath with a swastika in the solid center. The eagle's wings extend beyond the wreath border and overlay the wreath surface. The area above the eagle's head and below its wings are open cutouts. On the back are 2 circular marks where fastening pins would be attached. The pin has dense white corrosion.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1939 March
has beginning date: 1936-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
history: Hans Horst Hirschfeld was born on July 26, 1919, in Breslau, Germany (Wroclaw, Poland), to Dr. Alfred and Maria Kraushaar Hirschfeld. Alfred, who was Jewish, was born on April 20, 1894, in Gross Leistenau, West Prussia (Lisnowo, Poland). He was the son of Naumann (1859-1895) and Johanna Hirsch Hirschfeld, who was born in Gross Leistenau, West Prussia, on September 11, 1859. Alfred moved to Breslau in 1915 and served in the German Army in World War I (1914-1918). He was later significantly disabled, due to war injuries. Alfred was a noted economist who got his PhD from the University of Breslau in 1923 and eventually became Director of the Chamber of Commerce of Breslau. Maria, who was Protestant, was born on August 3, 1893, in Stossweier, Colmar, France. The couple married on February 8, 1919. Hans was raised Jewish and participated in Jewish organizations. In January 1933, Hitler came to power and, by summer, Germany was ruled by a Nazi dictatorship. Anti-Jewish policies were enacted. On September 15, 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed, which defined anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents as a Jew. Hans had only two Jewish grandparents from his father’s side, and he was not initially persecuted due to this law. He had an active social life and in 1935 joined the Breslauer Touren-Ruder-Club of the Jewish Water Sports Committee. In April 1936, Hans began an apprentice at Albert Schaffer Company, but was fired in December 1937, because he was Jewish. He lost another job six months later when the Jewish firm, Felix Jacobowitz Co., where he worked was Aryanized. Hans began making preparations to leave Germany. The US had a very strict immigration quota system so Hans obtained a Cuban visa. He had a paternal great- aunt, Ernestine Schwartzburg, who had immigrated from Berlin to Shreveport, Louisiana, prior to World War I. With her daughters, Amanda and Jennie, and son Alter, she owned a Girls and Ladies Wear Company. Ernestine sponsored his immigration visas. Ha…
history: The pin was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Karen Hirschfeld Hendley, the daughter of Hans Hirschfeld.
identifier: irn78325
is or was included in: us-005578-irn78324
record resource extent: overall: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: SS cap badge with an eagle and oak wreath owned by Hans Hirschfeld, who left Germany at age twenty in 1939 for the US and later served in the US Army. From 1936 to 1945, this type of cap badge was worn by the SS-Ordnungspolizei, or order police, the regular uniformed police force in Germany, which included municipal and rural police, firemen, and the coast guard. When Hitler came to power in January 1933, Hans and his parents, Alfred and Maria, lived in Breslau, Germany, where Alfred was Director of the Chamber of Commerce. Maria was Protestant and Alfred was Jewish and Hans identified himself as Jewish. Under the Nazi government, Jews were persecuted and increasingly banned from areas of German society. In December 1937, Hans was fired from his job because he was Jewish. He lost another job six months later when the Jewish firm where he worked was Aryanized. He spent a year obtaining the permits needed to leave Germany and emigrated to Havana, Cuba, in March 1939, and then to Louisiana that October where he had a paternal aunt. He was drafted into the US Army in 1941 and served as a translator and interrogator of German prisoners of war in the US. Because Maria was not Jewish, she and Alfred were able to stay in Breslau, although they were placed in a local internment camp for several months. Alfred and Maria left Germany for America in 1947.
title: Pressed aluminum cap badge with Nazi insignia acquired by a German Jewish refugee and US soldier