Aluminum wardrobe trunk used by a German Jewish emigrant family

Bruno Einstein was born on May 10, 1901, in Fellheim, Germany, to Isaak and Bertha Mayer Einstein. Bruno had two siblings: Arthur, born on October 8, 1897, and Martha, born on February 4, 1906. Bruno’s father Isaak was born on June 2, 1866, in Fellheim, to Heinrich and Elise Silberschmied Einstein. Isaak was a salesman. Bruno’s mother Bertha was born on January 3, 1870, in Berkach, to Abraham and Rosetta Frank Mayer. Bertha had a sister, Frieda (1874-1941). Isaak and Bertha were married in 1895 in Fellheim. Bruno married Frieda Weld, who was born on December 18, 1901, in Cronheim, to David and Babette Ketner Weld. The couple lived in Fellheim. Bruno was a merchant. Bruno’s brother Arthur, his wife Gertrud Wilt (1898-1987), and their son Herbert (1931-1989) also lived in Fellheim. Bruno’s sister Martha lived in Ulm with her husband Abraham Frenkel (1904-1942), and their son Heinz (b. 1933). In January 1933, Hitler came to power in Germany. Policies to disenfranchise and persecute Jews were enacted. On July 25, 1934, Bruno and Frieda had a son, Dieter. On October 28, 1938, Bruno’s sister Martha and her family were deported to Poland because her husband was born in Łódź, Poland. They were eventually allowed to return to Germany because Martha was German. During Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938, Bruno and his brother Arthur were arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp, arriving on November 11. Bruno was assigned prisoner number 21731 and Arthur 22095. Arthur was released on December 8, and Bruno on January 3 or 5, 1939. Inmates were released if they could provide proof that they were leaving Germany. In 1939, Bruno and Frieda received papers to immigrate to the United States. Their immigration was sponsored by Bruno’s maternal aunt Frieda and her husband James Jeffries, who lived in California. In 1939, the family went to Genoa, Italy. On November 6, 1939, Bruno, Frieda, and Dieter sailed from Genoa on the SS Saturnia, arriving in New York on November 17. They settled in New York. Dieter Americanized his name to David. Bruno’s siblings also left for the US. Bruno’s sister Martha emigrated to New York from Lisbon, Portugal, in May 1941. Martha’s son Heinz had gone to New York in February 1940, but her husband Abraham could not get a visa. Bruno sponsored the immigration of his brother Arthur. Arthur, Gertrude, and Herbert sailed from Seville, Spain, on August 7, 1941, arriving in New York on September 12. Martha eventually remarried and changed her last name to Bamberger. The war ended when Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. Bruno’s parents, Isaak and Bertha, were killed in the Holocaust. They were deported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia on July 29, 1942, where Bertha died on December 12, 1942, and Isaak died on January 23, 1943. Martha’s husband Abraham was deported to Riga ghetto in Latvia in December 1941, and killed in 1942 in Salaspils work education camp in Latvia. Bruno’s brother Arthur, 76, died on July 6, 1974. Bruno, 79, died on December 3, 1980. Bruno’s sister Martha, 89, died on March 31, 1995. Bruno’s wife Frieda, 96, died on March 6, 1998.

The trunk was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2011 by David Einstein, the son of Bruno and Frieda Einstein.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of David Einstein

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.