Chef will paint your neckties
Object numberM2015/032:001
TitleChef will paint your neckties
DescriptionPhotograph of chef Charles (Rafi) Widder serving guests in his Viennese-style restaurant in Darlinghurst, The Fiaker (meaning: horse-drawn four-wheeled carriage). His tattoo from Auschwitz, A1919, is visible on his left forearm. The photograph was taken by the Associated Newspapers Ltd Sydney for an article in The Sun, January 1953. The article mentions that many of his customers are friends from the camps.
Karel (Charles, known as Rafi) Widder was born in 1921 in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia. He was a chef and pastry cook. He met his wife Ruth when she was 18 and he was 19. They were married in Theresienstadt ghetto/concentration camp on 29 January 1943 by Rabbi Unger of Brno. Somebody gave her a dress, and someone else gave her matching shoes. A piece of curtain was used as a veil. In May 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz. They were tattooed (Karel number A1919, Ruth number A4144); they were deported to other camps (he was sent to Schwartzheide, a subcamp of Sachsenhausen), and they only met up again after the war in Czechoslovakia. They got married again after the war, in Prague, because there was no paper work to show they had been married in Theresienstadt.
Ruth Widder (nee Perlhefter) was born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1922. She was 11 when Hitler came to power, and 16 she and her parents moved to Czechoslovakia, where she studied nursing. She was deported to Theresienstadt where she met up with Rafi. In 1947 they had a daughter, Judith (Judy), and in 1949 they immigrated to Australia.
Rafi was an artistic man and painted in his spare time. He couldn’t afford canvases so he painted on tea towels nailed to a board. He was also a good pianist and was a qualified chef, opening a Viennese-style restaurant in Darlinghurst called The Fiaker (meaning horse-drawn four-wheeled carriage for hire) in Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, in 1951 with a partner. The building was demolished to make way for the William Street underpass.
Karel (Charles, known as Rafi) Widder was born in 1921 in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia. He was a chef and pastry cook. He met his wife Ruth when she was 18 and he was 19. They were married in Theresienstadt ghetto/concentration camp on 29 January 1943 by Rabbi Unger of Brno. Somebody gave her a dress, and someone else gave her matching shoes. A piece of curtain was used as a veil. In May 1944, they were deported to Auschwitz. They were tattooed (Karel number A1919, Ruth number A4144); they were deported to other camps (he was sent to Schwartzheide, a subcamp of Sachsenhausen), and they only met up again after the war in Czechoslovakia. They got married again after the war, in Prague, because there was no paper work to show they had been married in Theresienstadt.
Ruth Widder (nee Perlhefter) was born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1922. She was 11 when Hitler came to power, and 16 she and her parents moved to Czechoslovakia, where she studied nursing. She was deported to Theresienstadt where she met up with Rafi. In 1947 they had a daughter, Judith (Judy), and in 1949 they immigrated to Australia.
Rafi was an artistic man and painted in his spare time. He couldn’t afford canvases so he painted on tea towels nailed to a board. He was also a good pianist and was a qualified chef, opening a Viennese-style restaurant in Darlinghurst called The Fiaker (meaning horse-drawn four-wheeled carriage for hire) in Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, in 1951 with a partner. The building was demolished to make way for the William Street underpass.
Production date 1953 - 1953
Object namephotographs
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 150.00 mm
height: 210.00 mm
Language
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Judy Sabag