Twelve numbered tiles and box for a game brought with a young German Jewish refugee
Extent and Medium
a-l: Height: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Width: 0.875 inches (2.223 cm) | Depth: 0.375 inches (0.953 cm)
m: Height: 4.125 inches (10.477 cm) | Width: 4.125 inches (10.477 cm) | Depth: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm)
n: Height: 4.125 inches (10.477 cm) | Width: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Depth: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm)
Creator(s)
- Anneliese C. Marx (Subject)
Biographical History
Anneliese Centawer was born on January 10, 1930, to James and Recha Huetzler (Hützler) Centawer in Nuremberg, Germany. Her mother Recha was born on June 23, 1891, in Huettenbach, Germany, to Moritz (1840-1922) and Amalie Selig Huetzler (1857-1918.) Recha had four younger brothers and nine half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Babette Talman. Recha was part of a very wealthy and large, extended family which owned several department stores and extensive financial holdings. Several family members immigrated to the United States in the 1880s. Recha’s father was a cattle dealer. Anneliese’s father James was born on July 21, 1888, in Nuremburg to Moritz (1830-1920) and Marie Gutmann Centawer (1854-1932.) His father operated a shoestore. James had a sister Henriette. James was a lieutenant in the German Army during World War I (1914-1918.) He then became the European trade representative for an electrical company that manufactured transformers. James and Recha married on August 17, 1924, and settled in Nuremberg. After the January 1933 appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, the Nazi dictatorship enacted plans to persecute Jews and exclude them from German society. Anneliese attended the Israelitsche Folkshul and was taught German and Jewish subjects. Antisemitism increased and, on one occasion, Anneliese was beaten by a member of the Hitler Youth who, because of her red hair and freckles, accused Anneliese of trying to pretend to be a German. In 1936, the family had to move because their block was declared Judenfrei [Free of Jews.] In March 1938, with sponsorship by three of Recha's half-siblings in the US, the family received American visas. Anneliese and her parents sailed from Hamburg on the Manhattan and arrived on July 7, 1938, in New York. The family settled in the Bronx in New York City. During the war, Anneliese’s father James worked for the US Office of War Information in the censorship bureau and then for the US Treasury Department. They learned that three of Recha's half-siblings: Ida, Leopold, and Siegmund Huetzler, perished during the Holocaust. James’s sister Henrietta is believed to have been killed in a concentration camp gas chamber. Anneliese graduated from Hunter College High School and received a cum laude degree from Hunter College in 1951. On August 26 of the same year, she married Gunther Marx. Gunther, born in 1926, in Remscheid, Germany, had fled to England, and then to America with his parents in 1939. He was a sergeant in the US Army during the war, from 1944-1946. The couple had a son. Anneliese pursued a career in public relations and was a corporate management consultant. Her mother Recha, 79, passed away on June 22, 1970. Her father James, 87, died on January 26, 1976.
Archival History
The game was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Anneliese Marx.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Anneliese C. Marx
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
Game box with twelve numbered wooden tiles brought with 8 year old Anneliese Centawer when she and her parents James and Recha fled Nazi Germany in July 1938. The tile numbers range from 1 to 15, but there is no number 2, 7, or 11. It is similar in appearance to some versions of a game called fifteen puzzle, but there is no board or platform to contain the loose tiles and the box base seems too high to use for this purpose. After Hitler and the Nazi regime's seizure of power in 1933, the Jewish population was subjected to increasingly harsh persecution. In 1936, Anneliese's family was forced to move from their home in Nuremberg when their block was declared Judenfrei (Free of Jews.) Anneliese was beaten up on the street by a Hitler Youth who accused the freckled, red haired girl of trying to pass for German. In July 1938, with sponsorship from Recha's half-siblings in the US, the family arrived in New York.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
a-m. This game includes 12 identical tiles numbered 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15. There are no tiles numbered 2, 7, 11. a. Small, square, black painted wooden tile with an engraved white painted Arabic numeral 1 within a white painted square outline. b. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 3. c. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.), with a 4. d. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 5. e. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 6. f. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 8. g. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 9. h. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 10. i. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 12. j. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 13. k. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 14. l. Small, black wooden tile, like (a.) with a 15. m. Square, cardboard telescope box lid for base (n.) with red paper adhered to the exterior and embossed German Suetterlin script in silver ink on the top. It has 1 detached side panel. n. Square, cardboard telescope box base for lid (m.) with red paper adhered to the exterior sides. A square of brown paper with a pencilled inscription is adhered to the underside. The torn sides have stapled corners.
n. bottom, pencil : ANN[ELI]ESE / ANN [-illegible]
Subjects
- Popular culture--Germany--History--20th century.
- Emigration and immigration--United States--Biography.
- Jews--Germany--Nuremberg--Biography.
- Emigration and immigration--Germany--Nuremberg--Biography.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--Germany--Nuremberg--Biography.
- Jewish refugees--United States--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Nuremberg--Personal narratives.
Genre
- Object
- Toys