Julie's Object

Julie took a selection of items with her on her journey from Austria to the UK, including a wooden chess set.

Julie was a keen chess player – her father, Samuel, ran the local chess club in Graz, and the decision to take her chess set with her when she left highlights just how important the game was to her. More than merely a pastime, it was a big part of her and her family’s life.

These simple wooden pieces represent – and provided a tangible link to – much of what Julie held dear at home. Her family, her achievements, and her sense of identity. 

These simple wooden
pieces provided Julie with a tangible link to home

This medal was also among the possessions Julie took with her to London. It was awarded to her for achieving second place in the youth chess tournament in Graz in 1924, when she was about 13 years old.

The medal is inscribed with the wording (in German) ‘Hakoah chess section, Graz’, and is decorated with a Star of David, meaning the club was part of the Hakoah Jewish sports organisation.

Another of the cherished medals that Julie took with her, this time awarded for achieving first place in chess at the Hakoah club championship, 1930/31.

Julie also took a collection of family photographs with her to London. It is unknown if she saw any of the people in these images ever again.

This photograph is likely to be a portrait of Julie when she was a child, but there is no information to confirm this. It was among the precious possessions Julie took with her to London. Copyright NHCM.
A family portrait, featuring Max and Karoline Eisenstädter, Julie’s maternal grandparents, sitting at the table in the centre of the image. Copyright NHCM.
Max Eisenstädter, Julie’s maternal grandfather. Copyright NHCM.

This Mezuzah from Julie’s home was also among the items she took with her. It’s another strong link to her – and her family’s – identity.

Mezuzah A small parchment scroll upon which the Hebrew words of the Shema are handwritten by a scribe. Mezuzah scrolls are rolled up and affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes, designating the home as Jewish and reminding those who live there of their connection to G‑d and their heritage.

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/256915/jewish/What-Is-a-Mezuzah.htm

These opera glasses were an additional reminder of home for Julie – they show us the cultural life she left behind.

Julie’s jewellery box was another item she took to London. It’s beautifully made, featuring an ornamental bird adorned with real feathers. We know that the Weiss family were affluent, and the craftsmanship of this treasured piece reflects that.

Copyright NHCM.

Julie’s jewellery box is beautifully made, featuring an ornamental bird  adorned with real feathers

Chess piece, Jewellery Box, ID Card artefacts are displayed at The National Holocaust Centre and Museum in Laxton, Nottinghamshire.

Johann Stojka
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Daniel Bennahmias
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Eda De Buton
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Julie Weiss
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Julius Feldman
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Ellen Rawson
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Blitz

The Blitz is the name given to the German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War.

Mezuzah

The Hebrew word mezuzah means ‘doorpost’. According to Jewish tradition the mezuzah is to be affixed to the doorpost at the entrance to a Jewish home, as well as at the entrance to each of the interior rooms except for the bathrooms. The mezuzah itself consists of a small scroll of parchment on which are written two biblical passages. The mezuzah distinguishes a Jewish home and is a visible sign and symbol to all those who enter that a sense of Jewish identity and commitment exists in that household.

Hakoah

‘Hakoach’ Hebrew for ‘Power’. A Jewish Sports club in Austria.

Buchenwald Concentration Camp

Buchenwald Concentration Camp was established by the Nazis in 1937 and was one of the largest camps in Germany. Jews, Roma people, political prisoners, gay men Jehovah’s Witnesses and prisoners of war were imprisoned at Buchenwald, as well as ‘asocial’ prisoners who were incarcerated due to their inability to find work. Between 1937 and 1945 approximately 250,000 people were imprisoned at Buchenwald, over 56,000 of whom were killed. Many prisoners died due to illness, malnutrition, executions, medical experimentation, and the hardships of slave labour. In January 1945 approximately 10,000 prisoners – mostly Jewish – arrived at the camp after being forced to endure death marches. In early April, as US forces approached the camp, the Nazi paramilitary group SS began to force inmates on further marches out of Buchenwald. The US Army liberated 21,000 prisoners from Buchenwald on 11 April 1945.

Ravensbrück

Ravensbrück Concentration Camp was built in 1939 and was the largest women’s concentration camp. A small men’s camp was added in April 1941 and a youth camp, Uckermark, became part of Ravensbrück in June 1942. In total around 120,000 women and children and 20,000 men from over 30 different countries were imprisoned at Ravensbrück, including Jewish and Sinti and Roma people. Around 20,000 to 30,000 prisoners died in Ravensbrück, through starvation, from having been experimented on, from being worked to death, or selected for death for being considered too weak to work. A gas chamber was built in January 1945 and approximately 6,000 prisoners were gassed here. Shortly before the end of the war, the International, Danish and Swedish Red Cross evacuated around 7,500 prisoners to Sweden, Switzerland and France. Around 20,000 prisoners were taken on death marches. The Soviet Troops liberated the camp on 30 April 1945 and found around 2,000 prisoners who had been too sick to go on the death marches. 

Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration and Death Camp

Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most infamous of all Nazi camps and consisted of three main camps, known as Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II – Birkenau and Auschwitz III – Monowitz-Buna. There were also around 45 sub-camps around these sites. Over 1.1 million people were murdered at this site, and over 90% of them were Jewish.

Hartheim Castle Euthanasia Centre

In early 1940, Hartheim Castle in Austria was converted to be used as a killing centre for those with physical or mental disabilities (or those perceived to have these). From May 1940, people were killed using carbon dioxide in gas chambers. It is estimated that around 30,000 people were murdered in Hartheim Castle. 

Ongoing, state-organised persecution of Roma people

Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti (historically often labelled as ‘Gypsies’) people were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in what is now called the Roma genocide. Many more were imprisoned, used for forced labour or subject to forced sterilisation and medical experimentation. Roma and Sinti men, women and children were already being targeted for persecution and imprisonment before the Second World War. As the Second World War began, the genocide of Roma and Sinti people intensified – including in occupied territories such as Austria. The persecution of Roma and Sinti and the Roma genocide took place alongside the Holocaust that saw the murder of six million Jews.

Dachau Concentration Camp

Dachau Concentration Camp was established in March 1933, initially to house political opponents. Dachau was used as a model for all later concentration camps. In the 12 years of its existence, over 200,000 people from all over Europe were imprisoned in Dachau, including gay men, Sinti and Roma, ‘asocials’, criminals, Jews and, later, Soviet prisoners of war. Once the Second World War started, living conditions in Dachau drastically worsened. Approximately 41,500 people were murdered in Dachau; one third of these died in the final six months of the war.  Approximately 25,000 prisoners were sent on death marches as Allied troops approached. The camp was liberated by American troops in April 1945. 

Deportation

The Nazis planned the mass-deporation of European Jews to extermination camps in German-occupied Poland. The Jews were forced to gather at local sites, such as a synagogue or town square, and then crammed onto freight or passenger trains, with limited or no food or sanitary conditions. Journeys often lasted several days, and sometimes they took a few weeks. Many of those packed onto these trains died during the journey to the camps through starvation or overcrowding.