Overview
- Brief Narrative
- A luggage tag from the Spanish Line that was part of a collection kept by Herman Silbiger in a cigar tin, capturing his family's journey through France, Spain, Jamaica (Camp Gibraltar), and Curaçao from 1942-1945.
- Date
-
use:
approximately 1942-1945
- Geography
-
use:
Spain
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Julie Kaye and Alexander Silbiger
- Contributor
-
Subject:
Herman Silbiger
- Biography
-
Herman Silbiger (1930-2017) was born September 10, 1930 in The Hague, Netherlands, to Edgar Silbiger (1904-1988) and Saartje (Sera) Silbiger (nee Davids, 1905-1992). His father was born in Trzebinia, Poland and his mother in Rotterdam, Netherlands. His brother Alexander was born in 1935 in Rotterdam. Edgar and Saartje Silberger married on April 11, 1929 in Rotterdam. The Silbergers fled the Netherlands in 1942 under assumed identities by pretending they were not Jewish and were only going on vacation. They were on the run for two years. They went to occupied France, Vichy France, then, once they were able to get documents, they went to Spain. Their ship was supposed to sail to Suriname but when the authorities rescinded their welcome, the Silbiger family traveled to Jamaica. In Jamaica they were interned in Camp Gibraltar, a British camp established near Kingston for evacuated Gibraltarians. Beginning in 1942, several hundred Polish and Dutch Jewish refugees were interned in the camp. The Silbigers then settled in Curaçao before immigrating to Miami in 1946. Edgar Silbiger worked as a pier engineer and helped design the cruise ship piers in Florida.
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Identifying Artifacts
- Category
-
Labels
- Object Type
-
Luggage tags (aat)
- Genre/Form
- Tags.
- Physical Description
- A green and white paper Spanish Line luggage tag with a string attached. Passenger information on the front and back, including the name, room number, and destination information, is handwritten in pencil.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 2.630 inches (6.68 cm) | Width: 5.250 inches (13.335 cm)
- Materials
- overall : paper, pencil, string, metal
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Geographic Name
- Spain.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The luggage tag was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2022 by Julie Kaye, daughter of Herman Silbiger.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-06-06 08:27:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn736823
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Also in Herman Silbiger collection
The collection consists of personal documents, correspondence, a luggage tag and label, and Herman Silbiger's scrapbook within a school exercise book that features materials from his family's journey through France, Spain, Jamaica (Camp Gibraltar), and Curaçao from 1942-1945. The collection also includes the tin cigar box within which he kept the ephemera prior to compiling it into the scrapbook.
Date: approximately 1942-1945
Herman Silbiger papers
Document
The Herman Silbiger papers consist of Herman Silbiger's scrapbook, documents, postcards, correspondence, and loose material from the scrapbook. The scrapbook contains train tickets, forms, documents, theater tickets, museum tickets, menus, and other ephemera he collected during the family’s journey from the Netherlands through France and Spain, across the Atlantic, to Jamaica (Camp Gibraltar) and Curaçao. He initially kept the material in a tin cigar box of the “Panter” brand, the brand his father smoked. He later pasted the material into a notebook he had initially used for school notes for a history class in Jamaica and then for a stamp collection. Markings on the front and inside cover of the notebook are the only indications remaining of its earlier purposes. Silbiger numbered and labeled the first 108 entries. The scrapbook covers April 1942 to June 1945, and the bulk of material is from 1942-1943.
Cigar tin used by a Dutch Jewish refugee
Object
A cigar tin Herman Silbiger used to collect and store materials from his family's journey through France, Spain, Jamaica (Camp Gibraltar), and Curaçao from 1942-1945. Herman's family referred to the tin as "Het Blikke Doosje," or "the little tin box." Materials, such as tickets and other items, kept in the tin were compiled into a scrapbook within a school exercise book.
Hotel Continental Vigo luggage label collected by a Dutch Jewish refugee
Object
A Hotel Continental Vigo luggage label that was part of a collection kept by Herman Silbiger in a cigar tin, capturing his family's journey through France, Spain, Jamaica (Camp Gibraltar), and Curaçao from 1942-1945.
