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Blue and pink embroidered cloth case made by a Kindertransport refugee

Object | Accession Number: 2010.504.2

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    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Embroidered cloth portfolio made by 10 year old Ruth Mondschein in the Netherlands after her parents sent her there on a Kindertransport [Children's Transport] from Austria on December 10, 1938. She used the portfolio to keep the letters she received from her parents, Hella and Markus. Her father was arrested on Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, and sent to Dachau concentration camp. He was released on the condition that he leave the country. He arranged for Ruth and her 6 year old brother, Walter, to escape on the first Kindertransport to the Netherlands. The children later were sent to an aunt in the United States, arriving on October 26, 1939. Ruth's parents emigrated on November 17, and the family settled in New York.
    Date
    creation:  approximately 1939 January
    Geography
    creation: Hague (Netherlands)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ruth Mondschein Zimbler
    Contributor
    Subject: Ruth Zimbler
    Biography
    Ruth Mondschein was born on February 22, 1928, in Vienna, Austria, to Hene Libe (Hella) and Markus Bloch Zimbler. Ruth’s younger brother, Walter, was born in 1932. Hella was born on September 4, 1896, in Brody, Poland (Ukraine), to Chaya Rachel Bloch. She had an older sister, Mindl,who lived in Brody with her daughter. Markus was born on October 12, 1890, in Kalusz, Poland (Ukraine). He had three brothers: Max, Solomon, and Jacob; one brother lived in Vienna with his wife and child; another lived with his family in Krakow, Poland. Markus had been a prisoner of war in Siberia during World War I (1914-1918) but was released due to the Russian Revolution in 1917. The couple married on March 22, 1925. Hella was a well-known dressmaker, specializing in white goods sewing for wedding trousseaus. Markus had been a mechanical engineer working on locomotives, but lost his job in 1930 because if the decreased demand for trains. Hella had many good connections in the Jewish community from her work and Markus now worked in social services for the Jewish Community in Vienna. They were an observant Jewish family and kept kosher. Markus’s job included an apartment one of the two buildings adjacent to the largest synagogue in the city on Temple Street. Ruth went to public school, but attended Hebrew school in the afternoon. The family spent their summer vacations in the Austrian Alps.

    On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and annexed the country. Ruth could see the synagogue from their house and saw what happened after vandals threw a smoke bomb into the second floor women’s gallery.. A female American journalist came to the house and Hella showed her the damage. The journalist said she would write about it, but nobody would believe it. The library of the Theological Seminary was housed in their building and one day a German SS lieutenant colonel, came to their apartment to get the keys. He said that he was selecting the most precious manuscripts for a future museum to the extinct Jews. The rest of the books were taken away as well.
    Ruth’s life changed quickly. The non-Jewish children ignored her and she could no longer check out books from the library. By May, Ruth could no longer attend public school, and switched to a Jewish school. Markus often was forced to scrub the Austrian election insignia on the streets. On the morning of the Kristallnacht pogrom, November 9-10, German SA groups assembled on the family’s block. The caretaker of the apartment building told Hella to leave and find a safe place for the children. Hella took them to a paternal aunt’s home in the suburbs. When she returned, she found that Markus and the housekeeper had been arrested and the apartment sealed. German authorities forced Ruth’s aunt out of her apartment and told her to take the children back to their parents. The next day, the aunt brought Ruth and Walter back and all they could see was a line of fire engines. The inside of the synagogue was burned, the stained glass windows were broken, and valuable objects were looted. A neighbor waved them upstairs, and later they saw Hella out of the window. Their housekeeper, Marie, who was non-Jewish, was released from jail, but Markus was transferred to Dachau concentration camp. After thirty-six hours, he was released on the condition that he leaves the country. On November 20, after the Jewish community intervened, the family was allowed to return to their apartment, but they found that all of their belongings were gone.
    Markus arranged to send Ruth and Walter on the first Kindertransport [Children’s Transport] to the Netherlands on December 10. They lived in an empty school in The Hague that was converted into a dormitory and were quarantined for six weeks. They received clothing, inoculations, and physical examinations. One of Markus’ brothers lived in Vienna with his wife and child; another brother lived with his family in Krakow, Poland. They later lived in a suburb, with plans to return to Vienna and obtain visas for England. After the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939, Ruth and Walter returned to The Hague and began school. Ruth frequently corresponded with her parents in Vienna. In October, a Dutch official took them to the German embassy in Amsterdam for their passports and the American consulate for their green cards. Their mother learned that neighbors were going to be on a ship leaving Rotterdam on October 16, and she repeatedly contacted the Dutch government to let her children travel with the. They arrived in New York on October 26. The children lived with their aunt in Brooklyn. Hella and Markus sailed on the last ship to leave Trieste, Italy, and arrived in New York on November 17. The family settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
    The family later found out that their family members living in Poland had been brought into the synagogue and shot. Of the family members who stayed on Europe, only one cousin survived. Ruth married Milton Zimbler on June 1, 1958, and they had two children. Markus passed away, age 70, on November 16, 1961. Hella passed away, age 95, on November 20, 1991.

    Physical Details

    Language
    German
    Classification
    Containers
    Category
    Bags
    Physical Description
    Square flat case made from blue cloth covered with white netting. Two pockets are formed by folding the upper and lower edges over to meet in the center. A blue ribbon is sewn to each side to tie them closed; the right side is stitched closed. There is a pink and blue cross-stitched border around the outer edges with 2 rectangular designs in blue, red, and pink thread. On the front are 3 lines of German text embroidered in pink thread and 1 line in blue. Embroidered in blue thread on the upper pocket exterior are 2 letters and on the lower pocket, a German word and 2 letters.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 7.000 inches (17.78 cm) | Width: 7.000 inches (17.78 cm)
    Materials
    overall : cloth, net, thread, ribbon
    Inscription
    front, embroidered, pink thread, red thread (Holland.) : ZUR ERIN / NERUNG / AN / Holland. [To the memory of Holland.]
    reverse, upper pocket, embroidered, blue thread : HM
    reverse, lower pocket, embroidered, blue thread : BRIEFE (?) RW [Letters]

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The cloth case was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial in 2010 by Ruth Mondschein Zimbler.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2022-07-28 21:51:11
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn47418

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