us-005578-irn92224-irn2966
type: RecordSet
archival history: The tallit bag was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990 by Ruth Knox, the wife, and Hanna Lewin, the sister-in-law, of Richard Pfifferling.
biographical history: Richard Pfifferling was born on December 31, 1914, in Lauterbach, Germany, to a Jewish couple, Alexander and Auguste Reiss Pfifferling. He had two brothers: Ernst, born on May 13, 1909, and Otto, born on April 24, 1911. Richard’s father Alexander was born on May 17, 1878, in Datterode, to Baruch and Henriette Burghardt Pfifferling. Richard’s mother Auguste was born on September 8, 1882, in Ulrichstein, to Josef and Marianne Gottlieb Reiss. The family lived in Dresden. In January 1933, Hitler came to power in Germany and established an antisemitic Nazi dictatorship that persecuted Jews. Richard and his family eventually decided to leave Germany. Richard’s brother Ernst went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and changed his name to Ernesto (d. 1996). His brother Otto immigrated to England. On September 2, 1939, Richard sailed from Antwerp on the SS Westernland, arriving in New York on September 13. During the war, he served in the United States Army, leaving service as a corporal. Richard married Ruth Liebermensch in 1944. They met in the United States, although Ruth was also a refugee from Nazi Germany. She was born on February 6, 1925, in Mannheim, Germany, to Samuel and Gisela Schiff Liebermensch. Ruth and her sister Hanna fled Mannheim on a Kindertransport to Great Britain in summer 1939. They then went to New York, arriving in February 1940. They were joined by their mother Gisela in May. Their father Samuel was unable to obtain a visa and remained in Germany. The war ended when Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. After Richard was discharged from the army, the couple opened an orthopedic shoe store and repair business, Tip Top Shoe. Richard's parents and Ruth's father perished in the Holocaust. On December 9, 1941, Alexander and Auguste were deported to Riga, Latvia. In August 1942, they were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in German occupied Poland, where they were killed. Ruth’s father Samuel was deported to France in October 1940, then to Auschwitz-Birkenau in…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular, discolored, white wool prayer shawl with matching sets of 12 black stripes of varying widths, one with small white dots, on both sides. There is a rectangular, white moire silk atarah, or neckband, sewn to the front, top center. The shawl has a white tzitzit, or twisted tassel, tied through a circular, center hole in each corner. There are triangular bundles of knotted fringe at both ends. The corners are reinforced on the back with a square of white cloth.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: approximately 1927
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn2966
is or was included in: us-005578-irn92224
record resource extent: overall: Height: 63.625 inches (161.608 cm) | Width: 44.500 inches (113.03 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: White wool tallit with black stripes brought with Richard Pfifferling when he left from Dresden, Germany, for New York in September 1939. Richard received the tallit, or prayer shawl, and other religious items as a gift for his bar mitzvah circa 1927. In 1933, the Nazi regime came to power and enacted laws that persecuted Jews. Richard and his brothers, Otto and Ernst, fled Germany but their parents, Alexander and Auguste, were unable to leave. Richard later served in the US Army during the war. Richard’s parents were deported to Riga, Latvia, in December 1941, and killed in Auschwitz in August 1942. In 1944, he married Ruth Liebermensch, who, with her sister Hanna, fled Germany for England on a Kindertransport in summer 1939, and arrived in New York in May 1940. Ruth and Hanna’s father Samuel was killed in Auschwitz in September 1942.
title: White wool tallit with black stripes brought with a German Jewish refugee