New acquisitions

The following are new additions to the Centre’s collection from June – December 2016. We are so appreciative of these rare and important historical documents and artefacts that enhance the historicism of the Holocaust, particularly with their Melbourne connections, which makes the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) Collection unique. Thank you to our donors for their generosity. Donations of original Holocaust artefacts are always welcome, and we also welcome donation of originals where copies were previously donated to the Centre. Please contact JHC’s Archivist, Dr Anna Hirsh to make an appointment: annah@jhc.org.au

1. A large collection of artefacts from the estate of Jacob & Malvina Keller. Jacob was a slave labourer in Siberia for the majority of the Second World War while Malvina obtained false papers and lived in Poland. This collection includes false identification and baptism papers and numerous photographs.

From the Estate of Jacob and Malvina Keller

2. Leather handbag, cotton nightshirt, and three photographs. The handbag belonging to Malka Bugalksi, filled with photographs, was one of the only possessions Malka took with her as she fled Wolomin, Poland for the Soviet Zone in September 1939. The cotton calico nightshirt, with its monogram ‘MB,’ belonged to Mendel Bugalski, who also escaped to Soviet territory.

Donor: Gita Ginger and family. Gita is the daughter of Malka and Zelig Bugalski.

3. Leather-bound diary kept by Ilse Ziffer during her time in the Shanghai Ghetto 1941-1945.

Donor: Kath Kolb, daughter of Ilse Ziffer.

4. Four postcards sent to Erna Kindler from her sister Hansi and uncle Simon Bassel. Erna and her family fled to Krakow and later to the Ukraine after the outbreak of the Second World War. Hansi was deported in Maly Trostinec in 1942 and Simon Bassel was deported to Theresienstadt. Neither survived the war.

Donated by Judy Lipshutz, granddaughter of Erna Kindler

5. Fifty-four metal and thread buttons made by Mala Pfeffer, who was incarcerated in the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, Stutthof and Theresienstadt before migrating to Australia.

Donated by Sandra Jones

6. Two Figurines: Tailor and Rabbi, made by Hungarian-born, Israeli artist Magda Watts, who had made dolls from scraps in exchange for food when she was a prisoner in the Siemens labour camp in Nuremberg. Magda has been making ‘vanished world’ figurines since the 1980s.

Donated by Carolyn and Len Eldridge. by David George Gilbert (Grunbaum), as well as memoir, books and documents. David, his wife Gisela and Susi were deported to Auschwitz, and only David survived.

Donated by Ruth Hampel, good friend of David Gilbert

8. Two books, The Fight and Destruction of the Bialystok Ghetto, Dr Szymon Datner, published in 1946; and German Crimes in Poland, Central Commission for Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Vol. 1, Warsaw, 1946.

Donated by Sue Selwyn and Yvonne Goldbloom, in memory of their parents John and June Selwyn.

9. A large collection of documents, photographs and artifacts belonging to Walter Geismar who survived the war in Germany, working in labour factories and not revealing that he was Jewish. (You can read more about Walter’s story on page 30 of this magazine.)

Two donors: Godfrey Geismar (Walter’s nephew), and Joelle Barnett (Walter’s good friend).

10. Documents belonging to Aron and Lotte Blumenfeld who both survived the Second World War in a series of concentration and labour camps.

Donated by Ruth Goren, daughter.

11. Gertrude Spencer’s photo album with illustrations, covering her early life in Vienna to the family’s migration to Tel Aviv, Palestine, in 1936.

Donated by The University of Melbourne, with the assistance of Dr Jennifer Baldwin, School of Historical Studies.

1 Ilse Ziffer’s diary

2 Portrait of Susi Grunbaum

3 Figurine ‘Tailor’ by Magda Watts