Object numberM2006/008
DescriptionScissors, Romania, manufacture date unknown, belonging to Herman Finger. Herman was a tailor. He inherited this pair of scissors from his father Mendel, who was a maker of priestly garments. Herman took the scissors with him when he and his wife and their four sons, Adolf, Salo, Benno and David were forced into the Czernowitz (Cernauti) ghetto, Romania, in 1941.
Throughout the war, he made clothes for farmers in exchange for food, ensuring the survival of his family. His son Benno relates how his father went to a farmer who he offered to make clothes for. Using the farmers linen, he made a shirt; in exchange the farmer gave Herman a sack of potatoes that fed the family for a week. The scissors were also used to cut the umbilical cord of Benno and Fella's baby born during the war, but died after 7 days.
The scissors then passed down to Herman's son Benno Finger, who brought them to Australia when he and his wife Frantiska immigrated in 1948/49. Benno used them in the tailor shop he set up in Oxford Street, Paddington.
Herman was born in Cernauti (Bukovina), Romania in 1888, a town with approximately 60,000 Jews before World War II, of which approximately 5000 survived. Herman was a tailor. He and his wife Frantiska (Fani/Fanny nee Sperlingova) had a civil marriage ceremony on the 28 September 1917 (refer to object M1993/005:002). They had four sons, Adolf, Sol (later Salo), Benno (born 10 August 1919, Romania) and David. All were forced to relocate to the Cernauti ghetto. Herman and Frantiska immigrated to Australia in 1949. Herman and Benno bought a dry-cleaning/tailor shop together but his father died three weeks later from cancer. Frantiska died from illness a year after.
Throughout the war, he made clothes for farmers in exchange for food, ensuring the survival of his family. His son Benno relates how his father went to a farmer who he offered to make clothes for. Using the farmers linen, he made a shirt; in exchange the farmer gave Herman a sack of potatoes that fed the family for a week. The scissors were also used to cut the umbilical cord of Benno and Fella's baby born during the war, but died after 7 days.
The scissors then passed down to Herman's son Benno Finger, who brought them to Australia when he and his wife Frantiska immigrated in 1948/49. Benno used them in the tailor shop he set up in Oxford Street, Paddington.
Herman was born in Cernauti (Bukovina), Romania in 1888, a town with approximately 60,000 Jews before World War II, of which approximately 5000 survived. Herman was a tailor. He and his wife Frantiska (Fani/Fanny nee Sperlingova) had a civil marriage ceremony on the 28 September 1917 (refer to object M1993/005:002). They had four sons, Adolf, Sol (later Salo), Benno (born 10 August 1919, Romania) and David. All were forced to relocate to the Cernauti ghetto. Herman and Frantiska immigrated to Australia in 1949. Herman and Benno bought a dry-cleaning/tailor shop together but his father died three weeks later from cancer. Frantiska died from illness a year after.
Object namescissors
Materialmetal
Dimensions
- length: 310.00 mm
width: 100.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mr Benno Finger