Lot 219
Collection of Certificates and Documents of a Jewish Family from Vienna – Documentation of the Family's Immigration to Palestine in 1939 – German Passports with the Nazi “J” Stamp, Phylacteries (Tefillin) in an Embroidered Cloth Bag and Other Items
Approx. 65 certificates, documents and other items, which belonged to a Jewish family from Vienna that fled Nazi-occupied Austria to Palestine in 1939. Austria and Palestine, 1910s to 1950s. German and some Hebrew.
Collection of certificates and documents from the estate of a Jewish family from Vienna – the couple Herman (Zvi/Hirsch) and Regina (Rivka) Heller, and their children, Yosef, Leo and Maximillian. The documents serve as a testimony to the family's history in the period between the world wars, until their successful flight from Austria and immigration to Palestine a few months before the outbreak of World War II. From the documents, we learn that the couple Herman and Regina were born in Bukovina during the 1890s. In the early 20th century, they moved to Vienna where they married in 1920. During the 1920s, Herman studied at the Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna and during the 1930s, he worked as an advocate. In 1939, approximately a year after the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, the five members of the young family immigrated to Palestine to start a new life in Eretz Israel.
Among the items in the collection:
• A pair of Phylacteries (Tefillin) in a satin cloth bag embroidered with a Star of David and a monogrammed letter "H" – Heller; presumably belonging to Herman Heller. • The wedding Ketubah of Herman and Regina, dated 1920 – Hebrew printed form, filled-in by hand. (Printed by Y.M. Belf, Vienna.) • Amtszeugnis, a letter of recommendation issued by the Supreme Court of Vienna (Präsidium des Oberlandesgerichts); given to Herman Heller in August 1938• Bescheinigung, a certificate given to Herman Heller in 1939 exempting him from military service due to his being a Jew, issued by the District Military Headquarters in Vienna (Wehrbezirkskommando Wien II) and stamped with the Reichsadler and swastika. • Two Third Reich German passports (Deutsches Reich Reisepass) issued to Regina and her son Yosef in the years 1938-1939. The passports are stamped with the letter "J" (for Jude [Jew]) and bear stamps of the Nazi Chief of Police in Vienna (Polizeipräsident in Wien) and additional stamps. The name ‘Sarah’ was added in handwriting alongside Regina's name (according to a law passed in Nazi Germany in 1938 forcing every Jewish man to add the name Israel and every Jewish woman the name Sarah so they could be easily identified as Jews). The passports bear stamps of the British Consulate in Vienna, visa stamps to Palestine dated January 1939 and stamps of the Department of Migration of the Government of Palestine (granting permission to remain permanently in Palestine). • An immigration certificate granted in February 1939 by the Jewish Agency to Herman Heller and his family.
The collection also contains documents in the name of Herman Heller from the years he studied law at Vienna University; two certificates of municipal citizenship of Vienna, in the name of Herman and Regina Heller (1933), various certificates issued by educational institutions in Austria and Vienna to Herman and his children, two membership certificates issued by the Histadrut Labor Federation of Palestine (1949 and 1953), and more.
A total of approx. 65 items. Size and condition vary.
