Lot 92
Wooden Salt-Shaker – "Souvenir for the Brothers in Zion" from the Detention Camp for Illegal Immigrants in Mauricius
Wooden salt-shaker, souvenir from the detention camp for illegal immigrants in Mauritius.
The body of the salt-shaker is placed on a stem with a cork. A printed Hebrew inscription: "Souvenir from the Royal Detention Camp in Mauritius 1941-1945 / On the day that thou didst stand aloof … to cut off those of his who escaped (Obadiah 1) / Souvenir to the brothers in Zion" (one word was printed twice).
In December 1940, approx. 1500 Jewish illegal immigrants, most of them from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, were captured by the British authorities in Palestine and deported to Mauritius (an island nation east of Africa in the Indian Ocean) where they were placed in detention camps. In the camps, they developed social, cultural and artistic life, under various restrictions, for more than four years. Only after the end of the war in 1945 were they permitted to immigrate to Palestine.
Height: 8 cm. Diameter: approx. 4 cm. Good condition. Stains and minor wear.
