Child's wicker chair received by a toddler for her birthday while in hiding
- Date
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received:
1944 July 30
- Geography
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received:
in hiding;
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Classification
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Furnishings and Furniture
- Category
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Furniture
- Object Type
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Wicker basket chairs (lcsh)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Louise Lawrence-Israels
Wicker basket chair given to Louise Israels by her parents on her 2nd birthday, July 30, 1944, while the family was living in hiding in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Louise also received a doll for her birthday. The chair may have been for the doll, but Louise was small enough to sit in it. Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940. By 1942, deportations of Jews to extermination camps were occurring regularly. Louise, her two year old brother, their parents and grandparents decided to go into hiding. No one but her father ever left their small attic hiding place. He snuck out after curfew to get food and other supplies. Amsterdam was liberated by Canadian forces on May 5, 1945. The next day, her parents took Louise and her brother outside to play in the park across the street. But they were too scared. As Louise recalls: “All we wanted was to go back inside...” Louise, having spent most of her life hiding indoors, had to learn how to live in a world without walls.
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Record last modified: 2022-04-05 12:27:32
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn523022
Also in Louise Lawrence-Israels collection
The collection consists of a wicker chair and two books relating to the experiences of Louise Lawrence-Israels and other family members in the Netherlands during the Holocaust.
Thephillah vethachanunim
Object
Prayer book buried by the family of Louise Israels while they lived in hiding in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Germany occupied the Netherlands in May 1940. By 1942, deportations of Jews to extermination camps were occurring regularly. Louise, her two year old brother, their parents and grandparents decided to go into hiding. No one but her father ever left their small attic hiding place. He snuck out after curfew to get food and other supplies. Amsterdam was liberated by Canadian forces on May 5, 1945. The next day, her parents took Louise and her brother outside to play in the park across the street. But they were too scared. As Louise recalls: “All we wanted was to go back inside...” Louise, having spent most of her life hiding indoors, had to learn how to live in a world without walls.