Family Memorabilia
These items have been used or handed down by our families and represent our past. They help us tell our family history and story.
Purple Heart
Bridgeport, CT
Nana G.
The Purple Heart that I am writing about is actually in the possession of my grandmother, Nana G. in Henderson, NV. The Purple Heart was awarded to her father, my great-grandfather, Clifford H. for being wounded while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. My great-grandfather was a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army. His Purple Heart and other medals were earned during the Normandy Invasion, one of the biggest and deadliest battles of the war. It was also the turning point for the war, the beginning of the end for the Germans. But we lost so many young men during that battle which lasted for days.
My great grandfather and his men came on battleships to the beaches of Normandy in France. They left the safety of the battleship for a small rubberized pontoon type boat; they were like ducks sitting in the water as they tried to make their way to shore and the Germans kept firing at them. My great grandfather and most of his men made it safely to shore. Their job was to set up telephone lines but it was too dangerous. A higher ranking officer told my great grandfather to get his men up the poles and start stringing wire, but he told him no, that he wasn't going to deliberately put his men out to slaughter. The officer was so angry he told my great grandfather he was going to have him court martialed. Later that same day my great grandfather was hit with machine gun fire along the right side of his body. He was hit in the shoulder, hip, leg and ankle. He was left on the beach along with thousands of other wounded and dead soldiers for several hours until medics could reach him and offer him aid. He was taken to England where he was treated for several weeks before being brought back to the States. The officer never did press court martial charges against him!!!
This artifact is significant to my Jewish heritage because it represents a time in this world in which six million Jews were slaughtered by Adolf Hitler and the rest of his Nazi regime and that my great-grandafther and his efforts; however small, contributed to the death of Adolf Hitler, the demise of the Nazi's and the freedom of all remaining Jews in concentration camps.
Israeli Bible
Jerusalem
Lisa C
My mother, Lisa, was given this bible by her mother's mother Grandma Hannah. Whenever Lisa visited her grandma's apartment in New York, she would always admire the Bible. She knew it meant a lot to her grandmother, and the family as a whole. Before her grandmother died, at the age of 101, she decided that Lisa should have the Bible to share with her family, and to remember her by.
In 1962 my great grandmother and grandfather, Hannah and Saul, went to Jerusalem, Israel for the first time. They were both born and raised in Poland, but moved to New York before the start of World War 2. It was always their dream to visit Israel,and they were finally able to realize this dream in 1962. They purchased this beautiful, ornate bible as a reminder of their journey to Israel as well as of their faith in Judaism.
Violin
Czechaslovakia
This violin was my great grandfather's. He was captured by the Nazi's and was tortured. Since he played such beautiful violin for Hitler, he was able to stay alive. Even though this violin wasn't the one he used in Germany, it still was one of the most important attributes of his life. Sadly, no one today plays the violin in our family.
This violin showed significance in Jewish heritage because it shows how brave the Jews were, even in the toughest of times.
Russian Samovar
Russia
Grandma Betsy B.
The samovar was one of the few things that my great grandma carried to Ellis Island. This shows the bravery and perseverance that she had traveling across the Atlantic Ocean from Russia.
My great grandma, Leah W., came to Ellis Island on the S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam arriving on March 19, 1907. She immigrated from Russia to the United States looking for a better life, free of persecution. They were not allowed to take most of their possessions on board the ship. Since she lived in the cold Russia, Leah brought her samovar which made hot water because it was something she valued. The samovar now has many stamps dating back to 1893.
Thereseinstadt Ghetto – Labor Camp Script, 5 Kronen Note
Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia
František Kraus (Great Grandfather)
Many of my Grandmother’s family were sent to Thereseinstadt in 1941. My grandmother and her parents however left Brno, Czechoslovakia in February, 1940 and traveled and stayed hidden from the Nazis until captured in 1942 and were sent to Samobor in Croatia, a transit camp like Theresienstadt. They escaped via an ambulance that a non-Jewish friend of theirs arranged for them after finding out that their camp was beginning to send Jews to Auschwitz.
This note is a reminder of their internment in a camp during the Holocaust.
In an effort to hide the horrors of the Holocaust, the Nazi’s created a fake town called the Theresienstadt Ghetto, in which it appeared daily life went on normally. The creation and existence of an ordered monetary system was also part of an effort to woo world opinion. Theresienstadt was created as a model camp to show the international press and the Red Cross as “proof” of humane treatment.
The notes had no real economic value, but could be used to pay for borrowing books. Life in the Ghetto had little in common with the note’s lavish design as almost all inmates perished or were transported to Auschwitz. These notes are a reminder of a dark period in our history.
Great Great Grandpa Cuccio and Great Great Uncle Joe in Marx Bros. Movie
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Papa Thomas
A Night at the Opera is a 1935 American comedy film, starring Groucho Marx, Chico Marx and Harpo Marx. It was the first film the Marx Brothers made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after their departure from Paramount Pictures, and the first after Zeppo left the act.
A smash hit at the box office, A Night at the Opera was selected in for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" It is widely regarded as a classic and is arguably (along with Duck Soup) the Marx Brothers' most-recognized film.
My Great, Great Grampa Cuccio (glasses and bandana) and Great Great Uncle Joe (holding spaghetti) both were in this movie. They owned a grape vineyard in Temecula as their occupation, but they found their way into Hollywood. They’re both Italian immigrants in the early 1900’s.
My paternal grandfather’s side of the family is from Russia and Italy. My great grandmother Nancy E. was born in the US, in New York, but her mother, my great great grandmother was Italian. These are my Italian relatives.