Object numberM2019/029
DescriptionCeramic Mug that belonged to Clasina Helena Cauveren (nee Monné), a prisoner from the Ravensbruck concentration camp. On the base of the mug is an eagle and swastika as well as the manufacturer’s mark ‘Villeroy & Boch, Mettlach/ 1939’. It was used for eating and drinking and was the only thing she took with her from the concentration camp after it was liberated by the Russians in 1945.
Clasina was born 30 August 1890. Though not Jewish, she was married to a prominent member of the Jewish community, Sidney Samson Cauveren, who was a director of the Amsterdam Diamond Building. Both were opera singers. The couple lived in a large townhouse in Prinsengracht, Amsterdam. Shortly before war broke out, Sidney bought another house in Nieuwe Herengracht, Amsterdam; they moved in with their four children. One day a Jewish lady knocked on the door asking for help to be hidden. Sidney and Clasina took her in, and then more Jewish people joined, including the husband and son of the daughter from Sidney’s previous marriage. Despite the tremendous risk to the Cauveren family, an ingenious hiding place was created for them, concealed by a large kitchen buffet. There were four extra mouths to be fed. To avoid suspicion, groceries could not be bought in one store. Tosca Cauveren, then aged almost 14, recalls that she and her youngest brother went to farms to get food. In 1941 Sidney died of a heart attack.
Clasina continued to hide the Jews after her husband’s death. However, on 4 June 1944 they were betrayed by someone who had been assured by the Nazis that his/her relatives would be released if they revealed where Jews were hiding. Tosca recalls two Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service of the SS) with revolvers forcing them out. Her mother begged them to leave her children because she had a handicapped son who needed taking care of. Clasina was deported together with the people she had tried to save.
Regarded as a collaborator, she was deported to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. She was forced to take part in medical experiments, and was reputedly injected with cancer cells in her left breast, which later had to be removed.
Following the raid, Tosca was left to look after the house and her brothers. Due to the ‘hunger winter’ (Dutch famine of 1944-1945) she struggled to find food and ways to keep warm. “I got blocks of wood from under the tram rails to heat…I had to count the beans and calculate how long we could do with them.”
After liberation, Tosca received a telegram with: “I’m still alive, your mother.” Her mother returned after her ordeal on 2 August 1945, weighing 48 kg, having recovered from Tuberculosis in a hospital in Lubeck. Following the war, she was unable to speak about her experiences in the camp and would only say that ‘the Nazis were animals’. Clasina died in Amsterdam in September 1972.
This mug was inherited by her grandson Sydney Raymond Cauveren.
Clasina was born 30 August 1890. Though not Jewish, she was married to a prominent member of the Jewish community, Sidney Samson Cauveren, who was a director of the Amsterdam Diamond Building. Both were opera singers. The couple lived in a large townhouse in Prinsengracht, Amsterdam. Shortly before war broke out, Sidney bought another house in Nieuwe Herengracht, Amsterdam; they moved in with their four children. One day a Jewish lady knocked on the door asking for help to be hidden. Sidney and Clasina took her in, and then more Jewish people joined, including the husband and son of the daughter from Sidney’s previous marriage. Despite the tremendous risk to the Cauveren family, an ingenious hiding place was created for them, concealed by a large kitchen buffet. There were four extra mouths to be fed. To avoid suspicion, groceries could not be bought in one store. Tosca Cauveren, then aged almost 14, recalls that she and her youngest brother went to farms to get food. In 1941 Sidney died of a heart attack.
Clasina continued to hide the Jews after her husband’s death. However, on 4 June 1944 they were betrayed by someone who had been assured by the Nazis that his/her relatives would be released if they revealed where Jews were hiding. Tosca recalls two Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service of the SS) with revolvers forcing them out. Her mother begged them to leave her children because she had a handicapped son who needed taking care of. Clasina was deported together with the people she had tried to save.
Regarded as a collaborator, she was deported to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. She was forced to take part in medical experiments, and was reputedly injected with cancer cells in her left breast, which later had to be removed.
Following the raid, Tosca was left to look after the house and her brothers. Due to the ‘hunger winter’ (Dutch famine of 1944-1945) she struggled to find food and ways to keep warm. “I got blocks of wood from under the tram rails to heat…I had to count the beans and calculate how long we could do with them.”
After liberation, Tosca received a telegram with: “I’m still alive, your mother.” Her mother returned after her ordeal on 2 August 1945, weighing 48 kg, having recovered from Tuberculosis in a hospital in Lubeck. Following the war, she was unable to speak about her experiences in the camp and would only say that ‘the Nazis were animals’. Clasina died in Amsterdam in September 1972.
This mug was inherited by her grandson Sydney Raymond Cauveren.
Production placeMettlach, Germany
Production date 1939 - 1945
Object namemugs
Dimensions
- height: 95.00 mm
diameter: 85.00 mm
width: 115.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mr Sydney Raymond Cauveren