Child's Toy Bear
Object numberM2009/001
TitleChild's Toy Bear
DescriptionSmall, worn, beige teddy bear with movable arms and legs. The bear belonged to Judy Solomon (nee Baneth), who was born in Hungary in 1942. She remembers taking it with her when her family left Hungary in 1944. It travelled with her through Germany and the DP Camp in Leipheim (near Munich), to Haifa, Israel, where the family lived after the war, and finally to Sydney.
Judy received the bear as a gift from her aunt, Jozsefa Fruchter. Rather than leave it to one of her four grandchildren, she thought the bear would be safer in the Sydney Jewish Museum.
Jacov Béla Baneth, born in 1914 in Ujpest, Hungary, was apprenticed as a textile dyer, a job which took him to Budapest where he met and married Klara Baneth (nee Soor) born in 1910, Budpest. They had one child, a daughter, Judy, born in 1942. When Judy was about 10 months old he was taken to do forced labour (Zwangarbeit) in Russia. Judy knows nothing about his time because he never spoke of it. He escaped several times back to Hungary but was always taken back, until 1944 when he was released after about two years back to the ghetto where Judy and her mother and grandmother (maternal – Franciska Soor) had been living. After receiving permits from Raoul Wallenberg, they left and wandered without destination, always traveling at night. Judy remembers sleeping in a castle in Austria for a bit. They were stopped by US Army troops and taken by trucks to a DP camp in Leipheim, Germany, which was guarded mainly by the Russians and contained mostly Hungarian and Polish Jews.
The family lived in the DP camp for three years, from 1945 to 1948. They lived in a small room in a three-story house with a garden. The family received many parcels in the camp from the Jewish community in the United States, some of them personalized from people they didn’t know. They received pansy seeds in one of their parcels and planted them there. They had mattresses and a table that wouldn’t fit at the same time. She went to kindergarten [see photo of kindergarten children celebrating Israel’s independence]. They had practically nothing when they left Hungary, thus the parcels were much appreciated.
Judy remembers her father being busy – he had an official role in the camp administration. He organized a soccer team that played at nearby camps. He had a knack for languages; he spoke German, Hungarian, and English (he taught himself from a book before leaving Hungary), and later he picked up some Russian (from the guards) and Hebrew. Jacov obtained permission to go to the US, but he insisted that a Jew’s place was in Israel, so they waited to go there instead. They finally sailed via Marseilles, arriving in Israel just after independence was declared in 1948. They lived in Israel for 9 years. Jacov worked as a purser on a cruise ship, going away for up to 3 months at a time. But it was hard to make ends meet, and when Judy’s grandmother died, and Judy was 16, they decided to immigrate to Australia, where Klara had relatives, arriving 19 March 1957. Judy’s father was one of four children and her mother was one of 12 children – all survived the Holocaust.
Judy received the bear as a gift from her aunt, Jozsefa Fruchter. Rather than leave it to one of her four grandchildren, she thought the bear would be safer in the Sydney Jewish Museum.
Jacov Béla Baneth, born in 1914 in Ujpest, Hungary, was apprenticed as a textile dyer, a job which took him to Budapest where he met and married Klara Baneth (nee Soor) born in 1910, Budpest. They had one child, a daughter, Judy, born in 1942. When Judy was about 10 months old he was taken to do forced labour (Zwangarbeit) in Russia. Judy knows nothing about his time because he never spoke of it. He escaped several times back to Hungary but was always taken back, until 1944 when he was released after about two years back to the ghetto where Judy and her mother and grandmother (maternal – Franciska Soor) had been living. After receiving permits from Raoul Wallenberg, they left and wandered without destination, always traveling at night. Judy remembers sleeping in a castle in Austria for a bit. They were stopped by US Army troops and taken by trucks to a DP camp in Leipheim, Germany, which was guarded mainly by the Russians and contained mostly Hungarian and Polish Jews.
The family lived in the DP camp for three years, from 1945 to 1948. They lived in a small room in a three-story house with a garden. The family received many parcels in the camp from the Jewish community in the United States, some of them personalized from people they didn’t know. They received pansy seeds in one of their parcels and planted them there. They had mattresses and a table that wouldn’t fit at the same time. She went to kindergarten [see photo of kindergarten children celebrating Israel’s independence]. They had practically nothing when they left Hungary, thus the parcels were much appreciated.
Judy remembers her father being busy – he had an official role in the camp administration. He organized a soccer team that played at nearby camps. He had a knack for languages; he spoke German, Hungarian, and English (he taught himself from a book before leaving Hungary), and later he picked up some Russian (from the guards) and Hebrew. Jacov obtained permission to go to the US, but he insisted that a Jew’s place was in Israel, so they waited to go there instead. They finally sailed via Marseilles, arriving in Israel just after independence was declared in 1948. They lived in Israel for 9 years. Jacov worked as a purser on a cruise ship, going away for up to 3 months at a time. But it was hard to make ends meet, and when Judy’s grandmother died, and Judy was 16, they decided to immigrate to Australia, where Klara had relatives, arriving 19 March 1957. Judy’s father was one of four children and her mother was one of 12 children – all survived the Holocaust.
Production placeHungary
Production date circa 1943
Object nametoys
Materialfibres (fabrics), plastic, grass
Dimensions
- height: 190.00 mm
width: 85.00 mm
depth: 60.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs Judy Solomon