Object numberM2011/014
DescriptionGold pendant with initials W and J (?)
Donor: Audrey Smith
Engraving on the reverse, in Polish, “Pamiatka Ponajukochanszej siostrze Kosi 26/V11/1918”.
Translation: “Memento to the most beloved sister Kosia”.
Given to donor’s sister age 14 when she acted as an interpreter for her father, who along with a German Police officer, had been overseeing the transfer of jewellery from one of the concentration camps at Hamburg Railway Station.
Her father, Henry Edwin Greenfield (not Jewish), was in the British army. He was born in London around 1909. He had gone from London to Shanghai: with the Shanghai Municipal Police – he lived in the international settlement with his wife. Donor’s sister Barbara was born in Shanghai in 1939. When Japan invaded Shanghai, they took a boat out just before complete take over and got to Hawaii; then Pearl Harbour was bombed. They had a house there and family there from Scotland from the mother’s side. Her father had knowledge of Japanese and Chinese languages. He was taken on as a member of G2, which is American Intelligence, and was involved with the interrogation of Japanese residents in Hawaii.
Audrey (the donor) was born in Hilo in Hawaii in 1942. Being English, the father wanted to get back; they got on a convoy to New York and the Red Cross looked after them; they got back to London eventually. He was posted to Palestine with the British Army, but she is not sure about details of his service. The family lived in 3 placed in Germany; one of them Hamburg where they lived the longest and left from there in 1952; making their way to Canada.
Audrey only remembers seeing the pendant in her adult life. She was told by her sister that there was lots of jewellery coming from one train to another; her father, seconded to UNRRA, was asked to supervise, and he took his daughter Barbara (aged only 14) along as she could speak German (she was skilled in the German language).
Audrey comments: “That jewellery should never have been touched. She felt bad about it”.
Barbara died in 2004 in New Zealand. With no children, she left the pendant for her sister. She kept it on the dressing table. She never wore it.
Audrey comments: “Our father should never have let her take it. How many other things did he (the German policeman) give away? How many things did he take for himself?”
Professor Konrad Kwiet:
Hamburg railway station is close to two concentration camps, Neuengamme and Bergen-Belsen (100km from Hamburg). So possibly the jewellery was coming from one of these concentration camps. However, normally goods would come via truck (the donor, when questioned further, can not be sure whether it was by train or truck). This movement of stolen jewellery would have taken place after liberation, in the summer of 1945.
The pendant relates to items confiscated from concentration camp prisoners. It is unclear whether the pendant belonged to a Jewish woman specifically, but it is likely.
Recorded by Roslyn Sugarman
30 July 2009
Donor: Audrey Smith
Engraving on the reverse, in Polish, “Pamiatka Ponajukochanszej siostrze Kosi 26/V11/1918”.
Translation: “Memento to the most beloved sister Kosia”.
Given to donor’s sister age 14 when she acted as an interpreter for her father, who along with a German Police officer, had been overseeing the transfer of jewellery from one of the concentration camps at Hamburg Railway Station.
Her father, Henry Edwin Greenfield (not Jewish), was in the British army. He was born in London around 1909. He had gone from London to Shanghai: with the Shanghai Municipal Police – he lived in the international settlement with his wife. Donor’s sister Barbara was born in Shanghai in 1939. When Japan invaded Shanghai, they took a boat out just before complete take over and got to Hawaii; then Pearl Harbour was bombed. They had a house there and family there from Scotland from the mother’s side. Her father had knowledge of Japanese and Chinese languages. He was taken on as a member of G2, which is American Intelligence, and was involved with the interrogation of Japanese residents in Hawaii.
Audrey (the donor) was born in Hilo in Hawaii in 1942. Being English, the father wanted to get back; they got on a convoy to New York and the Red Cross looked after them; they got back to London eventually. He was posted to Palestine with the British Army, but she is not sure about details of his service. The family lived in 3 placed in Germany; one of them Hamburg where they lived the longest and left from there in 1952; making their way to Canada.
Audrey only remembers seeing the pendant in her adult life. She was told by her sister that there was lots of jewellery coming from one train to another; her father, seconded to UNRRA, was asked to supervise, and he took his daughter Barbara (aged only 14) along as she could speak German (she was skilled in the German language).
Audrey comments: “That jewellery should never have been touched. She felt bad about it”.
Barbara died in 2004 in New Zealand. With no children, she left the pendant for her sister. She kept it on the dressing table. She never wore it.
Audrey comments: “Our father should never have let her take it. How many other things did he (the German policeman) give away? How many things did he take for himself?”
Professor Konrad Kwiet:
Hamburg railway station is close to two concentration camps, Neuengamme and Bergen-Belsen (100km from Hamburg). So possibly the jewellery was coming from one of these concentration camps. However, normally goods would come via truck (the donor, when questioned further, can not be sure whether it was by train or truck). This movement of stolen jewellery would have taken place after liberation, in the summer of 1945.
The pendant relates to items confiscated from concentration camp prisoners. It is unclear whether the pendant belonged to a Jewish woman specifically, but it is likely.
Recorded by Roslyn Sugarman
30 July 2009
Production placePoland
Production date 1918 - 1918
Object namejewellery
Materialgold
Dimensions
- width: 30.00 mm
height: 22.00 mm
Language
- Polish Translates as "Memento to the most beloved sister Kosia".
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs Audrey Smith