Object numberM2015/036
DescriptionThis Tallit (prayer shawl) was given to Itzik Koziwoda by the Joint (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) in a DP camp in Germany in 1945/46 – either Schwandorf, Eschwege or Freising.
A tallit (or tallis) is a traditional fringed prayer shawl worn by Jews; it has specially knotted fringes, called tzitzit, as a reminder to live a mitzvah-centered life. What distinguishes this tallit from all others in the Sydney Jewish Museum collection is what is written on its edge in black ink: ‘Gift from Joint’.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as the Joint or the JDC, is the world's leading Jewish humanitarian organisation, assisting those in need and in crisis in over 70 nations for more than a century. Shortly after liberation, the Joint distributed religious paraphernalia to Jewish survivors in the DP camps, items such as Siddurim (prayer books), Haggadah (prayer book for Passover), Seder plates and prayer shawls – gifts that went some way to reawaken and reaffirm the DPs’ cultural and religious sense of belonging.
Itzik (Icek) Koziwoda (known in Australia as Jack Cousens) was born in Dzialoszyn, Poland, in 1923. He was the second oldest of seven children born to Mendel and Mindle Koziwoda. His siblings were Charna, Malka, Mania, Yidel, Moishe and Fay.
Twenty-year-old Itzik was deported to Auschwitz on 31 August 1943 from Bialystok. He was registered upon arrival, receiving the serial number 144300. He was imprisoned in Auschwitz III-Monowitz and spent some time in the sick bay there in May 1944. In January 1945, he was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp from where he was liberated.
During the war, Itzik undertook various tasks assigned to him by the Nazis but the one that left him with the skills to take into his future was tailoring. He married his childhood friend Sura Nacha (Sala) Wajsberg at the end of the war. After searching for any signs of living relatives Itzik soon discovered that he was the sole survivor of his family. He and Sura came to Australia in 1949 with their daughter Dorothy and he worked as a tailor.
The absence of details regarding his war-time experiences is explained by his son Harry: “My father did not talk very much if at all about his time during the war and what he suffered. In relation to his faith, Dad wasn't as religious here in Australia as he would have been growing up in Poland, but he remained strongly Jewish.”
A tallit (or tallis) is a traditional fringed prayer shawl worn by Jews; it has specially knotted fringes, called tzitzit, as a reminder to live a mitzvah-centered life. What distinguishes this tallit from all others in the Sydney Jewish Museum collection is what is written on its edge in black ink: ‘Gift from Joint’.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as the Joint or the JDC, is the world's leading Jewish humanitarian organisation, assisting those in need and in crisis in over 70 nations for more than a century. Shortly after liberation, the Joint distributed religious paraphernalia to Jewish survivors in the DP camps, items such as Siddurim (prayer books), Haggadah (prayer book for Passover), Seder plates and prayer shawls – gifts that went some way to reawaken and reaffirm the DPs’ cultural and religious sense of belonging.
Itzik (Icek) Koziwoda (known in Australia as Jack Cousens) was born in Dzialoszyn, Poland, in 1923. He was the second oldest of seven children born to Mendel and Mindle Koziwoda. His siblings were Charna, Malka, Mania, Yidel, Moishe and Fay.
Twenty-year-old Itzik was deported to Auschwitz on 31 August 1943 from Bialystok. He was registered upon arrival, receiving the serial number 144300. He was imprisoned in Auschwitz III-Monowitz and spent some time in the sick bay there in May 1944. In January 1945, he was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp from where he was liberated.
During the war, Itzik undertook various tasks assigned to him by the Nazis but the one that left him with the skills to take into his future was tailoring. He married his childhood friend Sura Nacha (Sala) Wajsberg at the end of the war. After searching for any signs of living relatives Itzik soon discovered that he was the sole survivor of his family. He and Sura came to Australia in 1949 with their daughter Dorothy and he worked as a tailor.
The absence of details regarding his war-time experiences is explained by his son Harry: “My father did not talk very much if at all about his time during the war and what he suffered. In relation to his faith, Dad wasn't as religious here in Australia as he would have been growing up in Poland, but he remained strongly Jewish.”
SubjectAustralian Jewish history, Judaica, ritual prayer, Judaism, DP Camps
Object nameTallit
Dimensions
- width: 690.00 mm
length: 1320.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Harry Cousens