Carved wooden box handmade and used in the Łódź Ghetto
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 10.500 inches (26.67 cm) | Depth: 6.125 inches (15.558 cm)
Archival History
The box was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004 by Rafal Imbro.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Rafal Imbro
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Handmade carved wooden box used in the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, Poland. It has the year 1932 etched in the lid with a later addition of the year 1940 and the name Estera Tannenbaum Hersz. Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and one week later occupied Łódź. They renamed it Litzmannstadt and in February 1940 relocated all the Jews, roughly 100,000 people, into a sealed ghetto. Prewar Łódź was a thriving industrial city and the ghetto continued to be an important manufacturing center. Daily life and social and economic activity in the ghetto was handled by a Council of Jewish Elders who reported to the German authorities. There were continual food shortages and death from starvation was common. By September 1942, the Germans had deported the majority of the residents to Chelmno killing center. The ghetto was destroyed in May 1944.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Rectangular, stained, varnished, brown wooden box with carved reliefs, rounded corners and a hinged lid. On the lid exterior is a carved relief of a male lion in flying gallop under a tree with a leafy horizontal bough on a patterned, textured background. In the upper right are etched dates and a letter; the more recent date, 1940, is scratched and appears to be a later addition. There are etched dates and German text in the same style along the lid front and side edges. The sides of the lid extend downward and are carved with 2 interlocked rows of alternating rectangles that form decorative top borders for the side and front base carvings. Each base panel also has a vertical column of circles within a rectangle on each side. The front base panel has a carved relief of a man aiming a rifle over a dog chasing a stag. The right and left side carvings have a circle flanked by scrollwork. The back base panel carving has 2 large flowers with horizontal leafy stems. There is a rectangular cut out in the top base interior where a locking mechanism used to be. The exterior edge has 2 small holes on each end of the rim carving where a closing pin would have been inserted. Each corner of the box has a carved, nearly 3-dimensional column. The base and lid interior have penciled text, numbers, and numerical equations. The underside is unfinished plywood with missing sections. There are some chips, gouges, and scratches and wax and dirt residue.
lid exterior, border, carved : Getto L-stadt 1940 / ESTERA TANENBAUM HERSZ / Getto L-stadt 1940 lid, top exterior, carved : 1932 / 19 R 40 interior, pencil : Rolmiera '39
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Łódź.
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Łódź.
- World War, 1939-1945--Poland--Łódź.
- Wood-carving--Poland--Łódź--20th century.
Genre
- Containers
- Object