Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Commemorative dish inscribed for presentation to Erika Wittmann, the head of an SS Lebensborn called Sunny Meadows, in April 1943. The SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), commanded by Heinrich Himmler from 1929, saw itself as an elite corps of the Nazi Party based on race-nationalist visions of racial purity. In 1936, the SS established the Lebensborn (Fount of Life) program that decreed that every SS man should father four children, in or out of wedlock. Lebensborn homes were created to house and care for the illegitimate children and their mothers.
- Date
-
commemoration:
1943 April
- Geography
-
Lebensborn e.V. (Germany)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Physical Details
- Language
- German
- Classification
-
Household Utensils
- Category
-
Tableware
- Object Type
-
Commemorative plates (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Decorative metal dish made from copper-alloy. THe figure of a Reichsadler, an eagle bearing a swastika in its talons, is attached to a branch upon the center. A German inscription is engraved on the dish surface below the eagle.
- Materials
- overall : metal
- Inscription
- front, engraved : Der Leiterin des Lebensborn Heimes "Sonnenwiese" / Erika Wittmann / zu Ihrem Jubiläum / V n den Mitarbeiten und Bewohtern des Heim / Dr. N. Sauer. H. Solling. W. Jandzincky. F. Ballach. P. Kemper. B. Skomlock(?) / R. Bauer. M. Peterschon. G. Stulz. A. von Reitzensie. F. (?) / April 1943 [The head of the Lebensborn home "Sunny Meadow" / Erika Wittmann / on your anniversary / from the staff and residents of the home]
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The dish was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2001.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-08-25 12:29:56
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn509412
Also in Lebensborn collection
The collection consists of artifacts, books, pamphlets, and photographs relating to the Lebensborn program in Nazi Germany which encouraged the birth rate among persons designated as racially pure Germans.
Date: 1935-1943
Forced labor badge, yellow with a purple P, to identify a Polish forced laborer
Object
Forced labor badge, yellow with a purple P and a purple border, that would be worn to identify a Polish forced laborer in Nazi Germany. German regulations required the workers to wear the badge with the purple band visible around the P on the right chest to keep them separate from the German populace. During the German occupation of Poland, 1939-1945, many non-Jewish Polish people were sent to Germany as conscript labor for civilian labor details on farms and factories. Workers sometimes volunteered for the forced labor service, but the majority were forcibly recruited and conditions worsened as the war continued. The German work force was depleted by the war and unpaid foreign workers were needed to keep the economy functioning.
Teddy bear used in an SS Lebensborn home
Object
Teddy bear used in an SS Lebensborn home. The SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), commanded by Heinrich Himmler from 1929, saw itself as an elite corps of the Nazi Party based on race-nationalist visions of racial purity. In 1936, the SS established the Lebensborn (Fount of Life) program that decreed that every SS man should father four children, in or out of wedlock. Lebensborn homes were created to house and care for the illegimate children and their mothers.
Ivory bracelet carved with gold painted swastikas and SS lightning bolts
Object
Ivory cuff bracelet presented to an SS member, engraved with swastikas and Munich, Germany, 1933. The SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), commanded by Heinrich Himmler from 1929, considered itself an elite corps of the Nazi Party based on race-nationalist visions of racial purity. In 1936, the SS established the Lebensborn (Fount of Life) program that decreed that every SS man should father four children, in or out of wedlock. Lebensborn homes were created to house and care for the illegimate children and their mothers.
SA (Sturmabteilungen/ Storm Division) brown uniform shirt with 2 detachable collars
Object
Brown uniform shirt with two collars worn by members of the SA [Sturmabteilung/ Stormtroopers]. This Nazi Party paramilitary organization, also called Brownshirts to echo Mussolini's Blackshirts, was founded by Hitler in 1920, and led by Ernst Rohm. The Stormtroopers were known for their brutality and violence and were potent instruments of street terror during Hitler's rise to power. By the early 1930s, SA membership reached three million, and outnumbered the German Army. After Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, the SA's demands for political power and the placement of fanatical Nazis in all key positions threatened Hitler's plans for German expansion and he turned against them. Between June 30 and July 2, 1934, the Nazi Party leadership, on Hitler's order, purged the SA leadership to end the embarrassing conduct and political intrigues. The SA would remain a popular and murderous wing of the Nazi Party, but it would no longer be an independent political force.
Lebensborn papers
Document
The papers consist of books, pamphlets, photographs, and other documents relating to the Lebensborn program in Nazi Germany which encouraged the birth rate among "racially pure" Germans.
