Danzig 1939: Treasures of a Destroyed Community

Cats, Elizabeth

Two months before the outbreak of World War II, 10 crates, weighing some 4000 pounds, arrived at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. This month, for the first time, the contents of these...

...The teacher and historian Sam Echt and his wife...
...In 1772, there were 1257 Jews living in these "suburbs...
...There are many ceremonial objects to celebrate the holidays, such as a magnificent three-tiered brass Passover container from Eastern Europe, with three pairs of majestic lions around its circumference and a four foot tall Chanukah lamp used in the synagogue...
...From the 19th century on, they identified more and more with the culture and language of Germany...
...The first "step" taken by the Jewish leaders was to sell all the property of the synagogue to the Nazis, and use the money for emigration...
...In his collection are furnishings for the synagogue, such as ancient Torah Ark curtains, Torah breastplates, and Torah crowns, made by well-known 18th century craftsmen...
...A poignant object in the Danzig collection is a five foot tall marble plaque, listing 56 Danzig Jewish citizens who gave their lives for "the fatherland" in the First World War...
...Come dear May, and make us free from the Jews...
...As the research progressed, there were many mysteries to unravel, none greater than to learn more about the main donor of the collection, Lesser Gieldzinski...
...In 1944, Mrs...
...It is a letter of safe conduct from King Casimir, to two Jews, Zub and Michael, giving them permission to trade at the annual Danzig fair of Dominik...
...In the harbor of Haifa, so close to their destination, the British authorities began to move the refugees to a larger boat, the Patria...
...There were other letters that offered no memorabilia, but expressed a deep desire to help, to be part of a project to recreate a Jewish community that is gone forever...
...This enabled the Museum to fulfill the pledge made to the Elders of the Danzig Jewish community, that if there be no Jewish community in Danzig after 15 years, the collection would stay in America, "for the inspiration and education of the rest of the world...
...It was in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk), on September first, 1939, that the first shots of World War II were fired...
...On these particular breastplates, however, two Prussian eagles with spread wings are perched on top of the columns...
...In 1901, the German Empress expressed her satisfaction that "Mr...
...At the end of April 1939, 52 years after its proud inauguration, the Great Synagogue of Danzig was demolished stone by stone...
...After three and a half grueling months at sea on the ship Atlantic they reached Palestine...
...The German Emperor Wilhelm II and the Empress Augusta were frequent visitors and sent a stream of important dignitaries to admire his collection...
...It was sheer coincidence (or perhaps providence...
...An example of this is an elaborate Torah crown made for the Congregation of Schottland in 1779 seven silver almsboxes and many almsdishes, once owned by the five communities...
...Other than a few of the most well-known objects, the collection had never been accessioned by the museum, and as the two accompanying catalogues were no longer up to date, a new catalogue had to be written...
...None is more moving than the letter of a woman who survived five years of internment on the Island of Mauritius during World War II...
...And therein lies a tale...
...Arthur Neustadt, widow of the merchant whose idea it was to "sell" the collection to the Joint...
...The Jewish community's newspaper, the Gemeindeblatt, wrote these words: "We want to live...
...They were sent to the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, where they were interned for the duration of the war...
...Danzig (named Gdansk since 1945, and part of Poland) is situated on the mouth of the river Vistula, on the Baltic Sea, in the north of Poland...
...This month, for the first time, the contents of these crates will be on view to the general public...
...The "Joint," which was already helping European Jews to obtain money and visas for emigration, complied with this urgent request...
...The second part of the collection consists of objects that were used in the Danzig Synagogue...
...At the beginning of 1941 about 700 Jews remained in Danzig...
...These are the many objects that are not listed in either of the two catalogues (1904 and 1933) which accompanied the collection in 1939...
...In Hebrew, it is called the Pidyon ha Ben ceremony...
...The last religious service in the Danzig Synagogue had been held the Sabbath after Passover (April 13) 1939...
...In 1883, the five old communities of Danzig— Breitgasse, Schottland, Mattenbuden (which continued to maintain a place for Orthodox services), Langfuhr, and Weinberg unified to form one United Synagogue community...
...very soon, a placard appeared on the site, saying: "Komm' lieber Mai und mache von Juden uns jetzt frei...
...at the fair (?) of Bolzan 1699...
...Some have elaborately engraved decorations, others are relatively plain...
...She had left Danzig with 600 others in August 1940, on the last organized illegal transport to Palestine...
...Even the smallest communities had many charitable societies for poor relief, burial, care of the sick and aged...
...She revealed that her grandfather had been a famous art collector and connoisseur of antique furniture, porcelain, objets d'arts, and paintings...
...These inscriptions tell a great deal about the variety of charitable institutions— "donated by the Society of Young Men," "Jewish Women's Society of Schottland," and "The Benevolent Society of the Danzig Community...
...This situation changed somewhat after World War I, when Danzig became the embarkation port for 60,000 East European Jewish refugees, on the way to a new life in America...
...In 1933, the Danzig Nazi party came to power, but since the Free City of Danzig was under the protection of the League of Nations, the anti-Jewish laws came into effect later there then in the Reich...
...Most of the almsboxes were made by 18th century Danzig silversmiths...
...There are large and important silver Torah breastplates with traditional iconography, depicting two rampant lions supporting the Crown of Torah, flanked on each side by two columns...
...We must accept our poverty, the insecurity of our existence and have the courage to leave the protective walls of our House of God...
...This was the last day of her vacation and she had run to the museum...
...Gieldzinski was a very generous and philanthropic man, who gave freely to the Danzig he loved—his Judaica treasures to the Danzig Synagogue, antique furniture to the Franciscan Monastery, a new carved portal to the Stockturn (a tower completed in the 16th century), among others...
...Thus we have a Torah crown that traveled from Italy to Russia, was "plundered" in a pogrom, came to rest in the Danzig 4 Synagogue in 1904, was rescued a second time, and is today at the Jewish Museum in New York— truly the symbol of the wandering Jew...
...Slowly and painstakingly, the trio began to research and catalogue more than 300 objects, and to document the history of the Danzig Jewish community...
...For a number of years, the Danzig collection was exhibited at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York...
...On that day, the entire community met in the Great Synagogue and resolved to leave the city that had been their home for generations...
...Elizabeth Cats is a research associate at the Jewish Museum in New York...
...When the new synagogue was built in 1887, many of their ceremonial objects came to the new place of worship...
...As a farewell gift, a friend had given her Gunter Grass's book From the Diary of a Snail in which it is mentioned that her grandfather's collection was saved, and was at the Jewish Museum in New York...
...The Danzig collection, together with thousands of other ceremonial objects, was put in the storerooms— and remained there...
...Paul, Eugene, Wichita, and then overseas...
...Starting in New York, Danzig 1939: Treasures of a Destroyed Community, will make its way to Cambridge, to Washington, to Los Angeles, Chicago, St...
...This plaque stood in the Danzig Synagogue, and each year up to 1939 services for the dead were held before it...
...With this donation he sent a letter requesting that the collection be "exhibited in a special room, carefully preserved and open free to all...
...For the Jewish community of that city, a slow dying had begun six years earlier when the Nazis came to power, and had its culmination on December 17, 1938...
...For this reason, Emperor Wilhelm decorated him with the Order of the Red Eagle and the Order of the Crown in 1905...
...It came to the Jewish Theological Seminary on a brown velvet stand, which had the following information written in Gieldzinski's own hand: "This crown was plundered in a pogrom in Russia and recovered again...
...Present at the meeting were the leaders of the Synagogue community, the Danzig Chief of Police, and members of the Gestapo...
...It is made of silver and parcel-gilt and is adorned with many semi-precious stones, including jasper and agate...
...by the Berlin silversmith Joachim Hubner...
...Libraries and archives all over the world were consulted to no avail...
...They came without museum numbers, and it can be assumed that these were family heirlooms, hastily added by individuals to send to the safety of America...
...We have been considering for some time the possibility of saving the collection of Jewish antiquities of the Danzig community, and I am pleased to advise you, from information which has just come to me, that the collection is now out of Danzig and on the Polish side of Gdynia . . . The Danzig Gemeinde (community) is satisfied to have this Museum turned over to some institution in America, and I was told that the only condition they stipulate is that in the event a Jewish Gemeinde is re-established in Danzig within the not too distant future, (I think they indicated about 15 years) this Museum will be returned to them...
...As 4000 illegal immigrants had entered Palestine in the previous months, the British decided to set a precedent, and not allow the survivors of the Atlantic to stay in Palestine...
...Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson, the curatorial staff, and volunteers who restored textiles, gave generously of time and expertise...
...She had come from her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to pay a short visit to the United States...
...A small article in New York magazine and in other publications requesting photographs and documents about life in Danzig before 1939 brought an avalanche of letters...
...In the collection are As the Danzig Jew became more assimilated, his love for Germany began to be incorporated in the ceremonial objects made for the synagogue...
...Morris C. Troper, its European director, reported from Paris to New York, on March 2, 1939: "During the last several weeks we have been in constant contact with the Jewish community in Danzig, through our Warsaw representatives...
...This is a large group of Torah ornaments, Torah Ark curtains, mantles, candelabra and Chanukah lamps...
...Because of its advantageous geographical position, Germany and Poland vied for its possession over a period of a thousand years...
...Lesser Gieldzinski (1830-1910) collected rare and unusual objects...
...In 1807, the French under Napoleon besieged Danzig and destroyed all areas where Jews resided...
...The largest was given by a Danzig grain merchant and art connoisseur, Lesser Gieldzinski, on the occasion of his 75th birthday in 1904...
...From the time of the Emancipation (1812-1871) until the rise of the Nazis in 1933, the Danzig Jews played a leading role in the city as grain and lumber merchants, bankers, doctors, and lawyers...
...The collection (more than 300 objects and documents) consists of three parts...
...The institution mentioned by Morris Troper was the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York...
...Cyrus Adler, accepted the collection, and the conditions proposed by the Danzig Jewish community...
...After many heartrending speeches made by the Jewish leaders, a resolution was proposed: "The Jews in the Free City of Danzig, who have gathered at this mass meeting in the Great Synagogue, declare in unison to emigrate as soon as possible...
...This particular example (Danzig, 19th century) is a detailed replica of a reader's desk used in the synagogue, and was designed for religious services held in the home...
...Many East European immigrants returned to Poland (and died there eventually) while others tried to flee overseas...
...On a hot summer's day in 1976, an elderly lady knocked at the door of the Jewish Museum long before opening time, and in halting English explained that she must be allowed to enter, as she was the granddaughter of Lesser Gieldzinski...
...All those in favor were asked to rise...
...Much admired is a miniature wooden reader's desk C13V4" high), complete with its own brocade cover, on which a small prayerbook and two brass candlesticks are placed...
...A most intriguing object is an Italian copper Torah crown, with an inscription saying: "This crown was donated by the heirs of Zalman B.X...
...His collection (other than his Judaica collection) was exhibited in seven large rooms in his home, and was one of the sights of Danzig...
...Unlike most other synagogue treasures, which were lost or destroyed during World War II, the Judaica collection of the Danzig Synagogue found "a new home in a new community...
...Twelve days later, on March 14, its president, Dr...
...When the work of cataloging the ceremonial objects was almost completed, residents of the former Danzig community were contacted in New York as well as in other parts of the United States...
...Everyone, including the Director, Mrs...
...Charity and welfare played an important role in Jewish community life...
...A large number of these refugees ended up staying in Danzig, and for the first time in its history, the old German-Jewish inhabitants were outnumbered by the East European Jews...
...Arthur Neustadt, a merchant and member of the Danzig Jewish community, had the inspiration to contact the American Joint Distribution Committee and ask them to "buy" the collection and send it to America for safekeeping...
...Gieldzinski had donated such great treasures during his lifetime and had dedicated himself to the public good...
...The documents, photographs, and memorabilia which were sent by these former Danzigers, are an important part of the exhibition at the Jewish Museum...
...Twenty-six years later (J 972), a new Assistant Curator of Judaica, Cissy Grossman, and three researchers—Naomi Strumpf, Anita Friedman, and Elizabeth Cats— became enamored with the idea of taking the Danzig collection out of storage and telling the story of its rescue to the world...
...Most were deported and died...
...Those who survived finally reached Palestine in 1945, five years after having left Danzig...
...Felix Warburg gave her home at 1109 Fifth Avenue to the Seminary to house its Judaica collection, and this mansion became the Jewish Museum...
...that in the same year a book, entitled From the Diary of a Snail, was published by the famous Danzig-born German writer, Gunter Grass...
...The latter had come to make quite sure that the Jewish community would follow the request of their leaders to emigrate...
...They commissioned well-known Christian silversmiths to make ornaments for their synagogues (Jewish craftsmen were excluded from the guilds until the Emancipation...
...Erwin Lichtenstein, a former leader of the Jewish community and historian of the Nazi period, and many others...
...She writes: "Death was with us every day, in the form of air-raids, hunger, typhoid, and dysentery...
...For this purpose, they give full permission to the leaders of the Danzig Jewish community to take all steps leading to this goal...
...The baby is brought to the synagogue 31 days after birth and offered to God, but is redeemed with a gift from his parents...
...Then, as if by a miracle, the "Gieldzinski mystery" was solved...
...The third part of the collection is perhaps the most moving of all...
...In the middle of this procedure, there was a giant explosion and the Patria sank with 260 people on board, most of whom died...
...There is a Scroll of Esther, exquisitely engraved by the Italian-Jewish artist Salom Italia before 1641...
...An eyewitness commented that "the ten cases were so huge, that they had to be unpacked in the courtyard...
...Nonetheless, life became more and more difficult, and in 1937 large-scale emigration began...
...The first documentary evidence of Jewish life in Danzig dates from 1476...
...The researchers wrote to him about their project, and some years later he visited the Jewish Museum, promising to write an essay (for the catalogue) if there should be an exhibition...
...For all who were present, it was an unforgettable moment when Rita Palester-Gieldzinski came face to face with the treasures collected by her grandfather almost 100 years before...
...This plate (Eastern European, 18th—19th century) is used for the symbolic ceremony of the redemption of the firstborn son...
...All of the almost 2000 people in the Synagogue rose to their feet...
...And so, just two months before the outbreak of World War II, ten crates weighing approximately 4000 pounds arrived at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York...
...In 1978 and 1979,the Jewish Museum received grants from the National Endowments for the Humanities to exhibit the Danzig collection entrusted to its care in 1939...
...There are also several examples of Torah Ark curtains, where Prussian medals and ornaments inscribed with the motto of Frederick I, Suum cuique (To each his own), have been added to the traditional design...
...They contained the treasures and ceremonial objects that had been used from birth to death, from generation to generation, representing many centuries of Jewish life in Danzig...
...This room, known as the "Gieldzinski Zimmer," was part of the Danzig Synagogue and became one of the earliest Jewish museums in Europe...
...As Jews were not allowed to live in Danzig itself, they began to settle in the outskirts, forming communities in Altschottland, Weinberg, Langfuhr, and Mattenbuden...
...The Jews fled to Danzig, and remained there...
...An unusual example is a large round brass plate, depicting a baby in swaddling clothes, with the hands of the Kohanim (the priests) raised above him in the traditional blessing.-A small triangle has been cut from the child's nose in deference to the Biblical prohibition against the recreation of the human image...
...In this book, Grass tells his children the story of the persecution of the Danzig Jews, a theme which has preoccupied him for most of his adult life...
...The ceremonial objects are a living testimonial to the love and respect which the members of these old communities had for their religion...
...The same spirit of "Missionary zeal," (in the words of one of the researchers), prevailed at the Jewish Museum...
...Our House of God, the Great Synagogue, we cannot take with us, but its strength will go forth in us like an eternal light, until we find a new home in a new community...
...Rabbi Gruen, last Rabbi of the Danzig Synagogue...

Vol. 5 • March 1980 • No. 3


 
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