us-005578-irn83921-irn1256
type: RecordSet
archival history: The wooden ornament was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by Jiri Lauscher.
biographical history: Jiri Lauscher was born on September 14, 1901, to Jewish parents Siegfried and Anna Schwarz Lauscher near Prague, Austro-Hungary (Czech Republic). His father Siegfried was born in the mid-1800s. His mother Anna was born on August 22, 1876, in Pribram, to Jakob and Leonora Schwarz. Jiri had two siblings: Frantisek, born October 12, 1899, and Josefina, born in 1906. The empire collapsed at the end of World War I (1914-1818) and Prague was part of the newly independent Czechoslovak Republic. Jiri’s father Siegfried died and his mother married Julius Katz, (1874-1942). Jiri was a Zionist and at some point, went to Palestine and lived there for a while before returning to Prague. Jiri, an artisan and designer, was the technical director of a fur factory. He married Irma Kohn, born May 2, 1904, to Ruzena Kohn. Irma was a dedicated teacher and graduate of Charles University where she studied German. She taught children at the Jewish School in Prague. Jiri and Irma’s daughter, Michaela, was born on December 30, 1936. On September 29, 1938, Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland border region of Czechoslovakia. On March 15, 1939, Germany annexed the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, where Prague was located, ruled by a Reich Protector. Other regions were absorbed by German allies and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Jews were banned from most professions and organizations. Jiri was fired from his factory directorship. He was a talented woodworker and got a job in a carpenter’s workshop, which made toys and other crafts. Jewish children were expelled from public schools and Irma worked two shifts at the now very overcrowded Jewish School. Jewish life was restricted. There were curfews, few shops would serve Jews, and Jews could shop only a few hours a day. Jiri and his family were kicked out of their apartment so a German officer could live there. They had to move to an old house shared with three other families; each family allotted only a single room. Radios and all valua…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Handmade, varnished, shield shaped wooden tile with an etched coat of arms shield with a brown stone fortress with a gray door; on its top are 2 red guardhouses that flank a rampant lion with a sword and red shield, on a green background. There is a yellow crown at the top and yellow flourishes along the top, sides and bottom. It has a dark brown, etched, swirled line border on the front and sides. There is an tab on the top with a hole through which is inserted a silver colored jump ring. .
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn1256
is or was included in: us-005578-irn83921
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Width: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Colorful wooden shield shaped ornament etched with the Terezin coat of arms made by Jiri Lauscher, who was an inmate of Theresienstadt, the German name for Terezin, ghetto-labor camp from December 1942 - May 1945. Jiri's woodworking skill got him assigned to the camp technical department. Jiri was from Prague which was invaded in March 1939 by Germany and made part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Under the Nazi regime, Jiri was fired from his job because he was Jewish. That September, Germany invaded neighboring Poland. In September 1941, Heydrich, the SS chief of Reich security, became Reich Protector and soon there were almost daily deportations of Jews to concentration camps. In July, Jiri's parents, Anna and Julius, were deported, and in September, his brother Frantisek. In December 1942, Jiri, Irma, and daughter Michaela, 5, were sent to Theresienstadt. Jiri became part of a closeknit group of artists at the camp. Irma taught Jewish traditions in the secret classes held for children. Around late October 1944, Jiri was waiting for the transport train to Auschwitz, when an SS guard asked for men to repair a roof. Jiri volunteered and the train left before the roof was finished. The camp was taken over by the Red Cross on May 2, 1945. The war ended when Germany surrendered May 7. Jiri and his family returned to Prague in June. Most of their relatives were killed in German concentration camps.
title: Small colored wooden pendant with the Terezin crest made by a former Jewish Czech concentration camp inmate