Doll belonging to Susan Warhaftig
Object numberM2023/065a
TitleDoll belonging to Susan Warhaftig
DescriptionDoll belonging to Susan Warhaftig (nee Tillemann), received in the aftermath of the Holocaust from a non-Jewish neighbour's child. It is the first toy Susan remembers having.
Susanne Warhaftig (nee Telleman) was born in 1937 to Isaac and Helene Tillemann in Vienna, Austria. She had a half-brother, Herbert, who was six years older than Susanne and the family lived in a predominantly Jewish district.
By 1938, the family attempted to leave Austria for the first time to Switzerland. They were turned back at the border and returned to live in Vienna. By November 1939, her father, Isaac, was sent to Buchenwald and the family was informed of his death (falsely reported as pneumonia) by February 1940. Her family were forced to wear the yellow Star of David and remembers vividly the impact of introduced laws and restrictions imposed on her family; My earliest memory is of my mother in the street having to clean the streets with a brush with a Nazi soldier standing over her to see that she did a good job.
Unexpectedly, two men paid by her Uncle came to smuggle them across to Hungary. They prepared to leave immediately, however they were told only two could go. For Susanne this has always stuck with her; She took me. This has haunted me practically all my life. They left behind her grandmother and Herbert with the expectation her brother's Jewish school would assist in migrating children to Palestine.
They travelled by train, horses and on foot to reach Hungary where they lived in temporary housing. By 1944, she and her mother went into hiding with false papers in a remote Hungarian village. Towards the end of the war, Russian forces arrived in their village. Susanne recalls her mother's initial relief soon turning to dread. They were our allies but they caused havoc. They got drunk and molested my mother. At the end of the war antisemitism was still rife. I was still called "dirty Jew" and spat at.
They stayed in the village until the end of the war when her uncle discovered they were alive. They moved back to Budapest before immigrating to Sydney, Australia in December 1947. In 2002, she discovered her brother had been taken from school and shot in Russia. He was 11 years old.
Susanne Warhaftig (nee Telleman) was born in 1937 to Isaac and Helene Tillemann in Vienna, Austria. She had a half-brother, Herbert, who was six years older than Susanne and the family lived in a predominantly Jewish district.
By 1938, the family attempted to leave Austria for the first time to Switzerland. They were turned back at the border and returned to live in Vienna. By November 1939, her father, Isaac, was sent to Buchenwald and the family was informed of his death (falsely reported as pneumonia) by February 1940. Her family were forced to wear the yellow Star of David and remembers vividly the impact of introduced laws and restrictions imposed on her family; My earliest memory is of my mother in the street having to clean the streets with a brush with a Nazi soldier standing over her to see that she did a good job.
Unexpectedly, two men paid by her Uncle came to smuggle them across to Hungary. They prepared to leave immediately, however they were told only two could go. For Susanne this has always stuck with her; She took me. This has haunted me practically all my life. They left behind her grandmother and Herbert with the expectation her brother's Jewish school would assist in migrating children to Palestine.
They travelled by train, horses and on foot to reach Hungary where they lived in temporary housing. By 1944, she and her mother went into hiding with false papers in a remote Hungarian village. Towards the end of the war, Russian forces arrived in their village. Susanne recalls her mother's initial relief soon turning to dread. They were our allies but they caused havoc. They got drunk and molested my mother. At the end of the war antisemitism was still rife. I was still called "dirty Jew" and spat at.
They stayed in the village until the end of the war when her uncle discovered they were alive. They moved back to Budapest before immigrating to Sydney, Australia in December 1947. In 2002, she discovered her brother had been taken from school and shot in Russia. He was 11 years old.
Production date 1945 - 1945
Production periodpost World War II
Subjectchild survivors, toys, dolls, hiding
Object namedolls
Materialplastic
Dimensions
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, donated by Susan Warhaftig.