C G Schierholz and Sohn porcelain centrepiece
Object numberM2005/023
TitleC G Schierholz and Sohn porcelain centrepiece
DescriptionPorcelain centrepiece, with makers mark underneath: C.G. Schierholz and Sohn, Germany. It is ornate, with scalloped and gilded edge, elaborate floral adornments to the sides of the bowl, and four cherubim supporting the bowl. According to the donor, Anne Perkal, it “Comes from ‘Mad’ king Ludwig’s castle in Neuschwanstein. It was taken after the liberation by an American soldier from the castle.” Her husband Paul, a survivor of Dachau concentration camp, met with this soldier in Munich after the war and was offered the bowl in exchange for a bottle of whisky.
King Ludwig II, known for his eccentric behaviour and passion for spending money, designed Neuschwanstein castle as an isolated refuge. This made it the perfect hiding spot for art plundered from France when Hitler ordered his exclusive art-looting taskforce to search lodges, libraries and archives of the occupied territories for material valuable to Germany.
Between 1940 and 1945, Nazi officials funnelled stolen valuables to various locations throughout Germany including monasteries, salt mines and castles. When US troops descended upon Neuschwanstein in 1945, they discovered a catalogued collection of 21,000 items, including gold, silver, paintings, jewellery and furniture, stolen from Jewish sources. Many of these plundered treasures were intended for the Führer's Museum.
The process of identification and restitution of treasures to their original owners continues to this day but we might never know whose dish this was.
Pinkus (Paul) Eli Perkal was born 27 July 1910 in a small town called Mszczonów near Warsaw, Poland. Eldest son in a family of eight children to Azrial and Esther, his early life was one of relative peace and simplicity. Raised in an orthodox household, his parents owned a large haberdashery store catering for weddings and funerals, offering a range of merchandise to the town.
He worked as an artist and living in Lodz, Poland. He married in 1939 (possibly to Chaja Grynberg) and had two children, a son and a daughter. During the invasion of Poland, Germany bombed large sections of Warsaw. Like many Polish men, Paul travelled to Warsaw after calls for an army recruitment drive. There Paul met with his two younger brothers, Adam (Issak) and Morris (Mosche). The recruitment plan was abandoned as the Germans soon occupied Warsaw. Together, the three brothers fled back to Mszczonów. A few kilometres from home, a peasant woman from the town informed them that their mother and youngest brother, Myer, had been burned alive following a bombing of a synagogue during Yom Kippur. Azrail and two of his remaining children had fled the remnants of their burnt-out home to live with the brother’s older sister, Feiga Hoffman, in Grojec. They walked to Grojec and were reunited with their family. Paul stayed briefly before returning to Lodz to his wife and child.
In early February 1940, Lodz ghetto was established, forcefully relocating over 160,000 Jews. Between Paul’s return to his family at the end of 1939 and 1941, the family appear to have been separated into two ghettos. His wife and child in Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto, living with Paul’s father and extended family. Paul stayed in Lodz. By 1941, he had no chance of escape as the ghetto was sealed on 30 April 1940.
By 1942, he was transported out of the ghetto. According to Paul’s post war account, his camp registration number was 127816 and he was incarcerated in four concentration camps; Majdenak, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He was a forced labourer and records he was physically beaten with one instance of more than 75 lashes at Auschwitz. He was lastly detained in Dachau from 17 November 1944 until he was liberated by American forces on 29 April 1945.
After the war he settled and started working for the Munich Municipality in the Jewish Community’s Arts & Culture department. He was reunited with his brother, Morris (who escaped to Soviet territories during the war) after Morris was informed of a Perkal in Munich by a German acquaintance. Now together, the brothers were later informed of brother, Adam’s, film career in Italy. The pair wrote to him via the Red Cross, discovering that they were the only three surviving members of their entire family.
Paul continued to live in Munich whilst applying for visas overseas. Eventually through an uncle in Australia, Paul and Morris were able to secure a permit and flew from Paris, arriving in Sydney on 29 July 1948. Upon their arrival, they were surprised to be greeted by their brother Adam.
On 5 June 1949, he married Anne Feller. The couple moved to Canterbury where Paul started a painting and decorating business. He continued to be involved in the arts, assisting with the Ashfield Art and Cultural Society. He painted a portrait of Jewish mayor, Alderman Lewis Herman, finishing it only a short time before his death. Paul passed away in 1983.
King Ludwig II, known for his eccentric behaviour and passion for spending money, designed Neuschwanstein castle as an isolated refuge. This made it the perfect hiding spot for art plundered from France when Hitler ordered his exclusive art-looting taskforce to search lodges, libraries and archives of the occupied territories for material valuable to Germany.
Between 1940 and 1945, Nazi officials funnelled stolen valuables to various locations throughout Germany including monasteries, salt mines and castles. When US troops descended upon Neuschwanstein in 1945, they discovered a catalogued collection of 21,000 items, including gold, silver, paintings, jewellery and furniture, stolen from Jewish sources. Many of these plundered treasures were intended for the Führer's Museum.
The process of identification and restitution of treasures to their original owners continues to this day but we might never know whose dish this was.
Pinkus (Paul) Eli Perkal was born 27 July 1910 in a small town called Mszczonów near Warsaw, Poland. Eldest son in a family of eight children to Azrial and Esther, his early life was one of relative peace and simplicity. Raised in an orthodox household, his parents owned a large haberdashery store catering for weddings and funerals, offering a range of merchandise to the town.
He worked as an artist and living in Lodz, Poland. He married in 1939 (possibly to Chaja Grynberg) and had two children, a son and a daughter. During the invasion of Poland, Germany bombed large sections of Warsaw. Like many Polish men, Paul travelled to Warsaw after calls for an army recruitment drive. There Paul met with his two younger brothers, Adam (Issak) and Morris (Mosche). The recruitment plan was abandoned as the Germans soon occupied Warsaw. Together, the three brothers fled back to Mszczonów. A few kilometres from home, a peasant woman from the town informed them that their mother and youngest brother, Myer, had been burned alive following a bombing of a synagogue during Yom Kippur. Azrail and two of his remaining children had fled the remnants of their burnt-out home to live with the brother’s older sister, Feiga Hoffman, in Grojec. They walked to Grojec and were reunited with their family. Paul stayed briefly before returning to Lodz to his wife and child.
In early February 1940, Lodz ghetto was established, forcefully relocating over 160,000 Jews. Between Paul’s return to his family at the end of 1939 and 1941, the family appear to have been separated into two ghettos. His wife and child in Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto, living with Paul’s father and extended family. Paul stayed in Lodz. By 1941, he had no chance of escape as the ghetto was sealed on 30 April 1940.
By 1942, he was transported out of the ghetto. According to Paul’s post war account, his camp registration number was 127816 and he was incarcerated in four concentration camps; Majdenak, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Dachau. He was a forced labourer and records he was physically beaten with one instance of more than 75 lashes at Auschwitz. He was lastly detained in Dachau from 17 November 1944 until he was liberated by American forces on 29 April 1945.
After the war he settled and started working for the Munich Municipality in the Jewish Community’s Arts & Culture department. He was reunited with his brother, Morris (who escaped to Soviet territories during the war) after Morris was informed of a Perkal in Munich by a German acquaintance. Now together, the brothers were later informed of brother, Adam’s, film career in Italy. The pair wrote to him via the Red Cross, discovering that they were the only three surviving members of their entire family.
Paul continued to live in Munich whilst applying for visas overseas. Eventually through an uncle in Australia, Paul and Morris were able to secure a permit and flew from Paris, arriving in Sydney on 29 July 1948. Upon their arrival, they were surprised to be greeted by their brother Adam.
On 5 June 1949, he married Anne Feller. The couple moved to Canterbury where Paul started a painting and decorating business. He continued to be involved in the arts, assisting with the Ashfield Art and Cultural Society. He painted a portrait of Jewish mayor, Alderman Lewis Herman, finishing it only a short time before his death. Paul passed away in 1983.
Production date 1880 - 1890
Subjectstolen property
Object namedecorative art
Materialceramic, porcelain
Dimensions
- height: 170.00 mm
width: 410.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Anne Perkal