Wooden hanger from prewar Vienna
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 8.500 inches (21.59 cm) | Width: 17.875 inches (45.403 cm) | Depth: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm)
Creator(s)
- Hermann Blauner (Subject)
Biographical History
Hermann Blauner was born on March 11, 1887, in Vienna, Austria. He married Chaje (Klara) Brayne Diwer, who was born on September 11, 1891, in Tarnopol, Russia (now Ternopil, Ukraine). Klara’s mother, Yetti Exelfirt Diwer, was born on January 12, 1866, also in Tarnopol. Hermann and Klara had a son, Kurt, on November 14, 1921. The family lived in Vienna and owned a clothing store, Moderne Bekleidung (Modern Clothing). In 1933, Klara’s maternal cousin Frieda Jankner, who had emigrated to the United States in 1913, visited the family in Vienna. Germany annexed Austria on March 13, 1938. Anti-Jewish policies were enacted that stripped Austrian Jews of their rights. Hermann and Klara lost their business and home. On November 10, 1938, during the Kristallnacht pogrom, Hermann was arrested. He was sent to Dachau concentration camp and assigned prisoner number 26136. On November 15, Klara wrote to her cousin Frieda and begged her to send affidavits for her, Hermann, Kurt, and her mother Yetti. Affidavits were pledges of financial support required to apply for a US visa. She said that if Frieda could not afford to help all of them, she should at least help Hermann and Kurt. Frieda’s brother Meyer wrote to Frieda in July 1939, urging her to help because Hermann was very sick and could not survive in Dachau much longer. Frieda was not able to send the family papers. Hermann died in Dachau in fall 1939. On September 14, 1942, Hermann’s son Kurt was deported to Maly Trostenets killing site near Minsk and murdered. Klara’s fate is unknown but she is presumed to have perished. Her last letters are from late summer 1939, before Germany invaded Poland, initiating World War II.
Archival History
The hanger was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Larry and Nancy Jankner, the son and daughter-in-law of Frieda Jankner, and Muriel and David Benjamin and Karen and Robert Falk, the nieces and nephews-in-law of Frieda Jankner.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Larry and Nancy Jankner, Muriel and David Benjamin, and Karen and Robert Falk
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
Wooden coat hanger from Moderne Bekleidung, Hermann Blauner’s clothing store in Vienna, Austria. Hermann’s wife Klara had a cousin, Frieda Jankner, who visited the family in 1933 and took the hanger back to the United States. Nazi Germany annexed Austria in March 1938. Hermann was arrested during Kristallnacht on November 10, 1938. He was sent to Dachau concentration camp, where he died in fall 1939. Hermann and Klara’s son Kurt was deported to Maly Trostenets killing site in September 1942. Klara is presumed to have perished.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Brown, turned, varnished wooden hanger with a thick arched upper bar and a cylindrical lower bar screwed to rounded corner grooves. A silver colored metal rod with a C shaped hook is inserted through the top center. The store information is etched on the top bar.
Subjects
- Russia--Emigration and immigration--20th century--Biography.
- Jews--Persecution--Austria--Vienna--Biography.
- United States--Emigration and immigration--20th century--Biography.
- Jewish families--Austria--Vienna--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Austria--Vienna--Personal narratives.
Genre
- Personal Equipment and Supplies
- Object