Jewish valuables cached after Nazi invasion found in Lodz

Modern(ish)

A collection of more than 400 pieces of Judaica and other prized possessions of Jewish families at the dawn of World War II have been discovered in Lodz, Poland. The treasure includes hanukkiahs, menorahs, sacred vessels and fragments of the Talmud, as well as household objects like silver-plate tableware, clothing and glass perfume bottles. They were wrapped in Polish, Yiddish and German newspapers that date to October of 1939.

The treasure was discovered during renovation work on a hundred-year-old building at 23 Polnoczna Street. Nazi forces occupied Lodz in September of 1939, within a week of their invasion of Poland. They established a ghetto in northeastern Lodz in early February 1940. More than 150,000 Lodz Jews — the second largest Jewish population in Poland after Warsaw — were forced to move into an area of just 1.5 square miles. Polnoczna Street formed its southernmost boundary.

The cache was found last month inside a damaged wooden chest buried in the foundations of the building. An initial examination counted approximately 280 objects in the chest. When government archaeologists explored the find site after construction was suspended, they found the rest of the treasure.

The timing of the discovery dovetailed with the Festival of Lights. The Jewish community of Lodz, which has offices on the same block of Polnoczna Street, celebrated the rediscovery of the treasure as part of its Hanukkah celebration, lighting two of the hanukkiahs on December 22nd.

“The discovery is remarkable, especially the quantity. These are extremely valuable, historic items that testify to the history of the inhabitants of this building,” said Agnieszka Kowalewska-Wójcik, director of the Board of Municipal Investments in Łódź, according to Polish media.  She said the artifacts are being transferred to the city’s archaeological museum, adding, “I hope a special, generally accessible exhibition will be prepared.” […]

“For us archaeologists, such unusual finds are a challenge, but also a great joy. I don’t remember the last time such treasures were unearthed in Łódź.”  said Bartłomiej Gwóźdź, a local archaeologist. “At the moment, each item is carefully cleaned so that nothing is damaged, broken or destroyed.”

Rijksmuseum acquires unique 17th c. display cabinet

Modern(ish), Museums

The Rijksmuseum has acquired a unique display cabinet made in 1632 by Dutch furniture master Herman Doomer. Inlaid with ebony and mother-of-pearl, the cabinet is a masterpiece of Baroque innovation, and the only cabinet by Doomer than can be precisely dated.

It is a cabinet of curiosities, meant to showcase the owner’s most prized possessions and collectibles, and Doomer had all the motivation in the world to create a masterpiece because the collection it housed was his own. Herman Doomer (ca. 1595-1650) was the premier cabinet-maker of the period and made a very good living for himself. He made so many frames for Rembrandt that they became close friends (and mutual clients; Rembrandt painted a portrait of Doomer and his wife Baertje in 1640). He owned several homes and was an avid collector, using the elaborate curiosity cabinets he had made to house his treasures.

Doomer was born in Germany and moved to Amsterdam in 1613 where he built a successful furniture-making business. He specialized in working with ebony, a rare, expensive and dense hard wood that was very much in demand in Europe as an ornamental wood for furnishings and decorative arts. The prized wood had become easier to buy in Amsterdam when the Dutch East India Company took possession of Mauritius in 1621, a then-uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, and carved itself out an extremely lucrative monopoly exploiting the island’s enormous ebony forests. Mauritius ebony was the darkest, hardest and most compact ebony to be had, qualities that made it particularly spectacular for intricate carving and low reliefs. Doomer took full advantage of these properties, creating furniture rich with architectural motifs, dynamic movement, precision, depth and high polish.

The newly acquired cabinet shows how Doomer was looking for a new style. The lower part is still quite traditional, but in the upper part the furniture maker introduces movement and baroque innovation, such as fan shapes and twisted columns. The case is inlaid in precious ebony and radiant mother-of-pearl. That was also completely new in Amsterdam. The other cupboard in the Rijksmuseum was made a few years later: the baroque has fully penetrated there and Doomer introduces lobe elements.

The inside of the cabinet from 1632 is richly decorated. Five mother-of-pearl plaques are inlaid here. These are signed by another well-known Amsterdam artist: the mother-of-pearl worker Jean Bellequin.

The cabinet was in need of extensive treatment by Rijksmuseum conservators when it arrived. Furniture restorers had to reconstruct some of the mother-of-pearl inlay that had been lost over the centuries, and areas of detached ebony veneer had to be re-glued.

The monumental cabinet is being exhibited alongside a later display cabinet by Doomer which has been at the Rijksmuseum nearly 50 years. The exhibition runs through March 14th. Because the newly-acquired cabinet is fragile, it is only being opened for visitors to see the glorious interior two more times: February 2nd and March 2nd at 4PM.

US National Archives’ Virtual Genealogy Fair

Modern(ish), Multimedia

In September of 2013, the US National Archives hosted a two-day Virtual Genealogy Fair featuring lectures from genealogy researchers on how to use the records of the Federal government to investigate family history. There is an incredible wealth of information made available to the public in these archives, and the lecturers focus on different areas of particular interest to genealogists including military personnel records, pension files, immigration documents and much more.

The National Archives’ YouTube channel posted most of the sessions from the first day of the Fair five years ago. Now the second day has gone online, 10 years after the event. They’re all worth viewing for anyone who is interested in doing their own genealogical research (you never know where you’re going to find key information) using resources available online.

Day 1:

Introduction to Military Records at the National Archives by John Deeben (presentation slides (pdf))

Introduction to Genealogy: Civilian by Rebecca K. Sharp (slides)

Alien Files (A-Files) by Elizabeth Burnes (slides)

Native American Records by Michael Wright (slides)

National Archives Online Resources for Genealogy by Nancy Wing (slides)

Day 2:

Genealogy and the Freedman’s Bank: Records of the Freedman’s Savings & Trust Company by Damani Davis (slides)

Military and Civilian Personnel Records:  The National Archives at St. Louis by Ashley Mattingly & Theresa Fitzgerald (slides)

Union Civil War Pension Files by Claire Kluskens (slides)

Federal Penitentiary Records by Jake Ersland (slides)

Finding U.S. Colored Troops at the National Archives by Trevor Plante

Genealogy Through Navy Deck Logs by Mark Mollan (slides)

Oh, The Stories They Tell: Chinese Exclusion Acts Case Files at the National Archives & Records by Marisa Louie (slides)

Bronze Age well with offerings found in Bavaria

Ancient

Archaeologists in Germering, Upper Bavaria, have unearthed the well-preserved remains of a wooden well from the Bronze Age filled with ritual deposits. It is more than 3,000 years old.

“It is extremely rare for a well to survive more than 3,000 years so well. Its wooden walls have been completely preserved at the bottom and are still partly damp from the groundwater. This also explains the good condition of the finds made from organic materials, which are now being examined more closely. We hope this will provide us with more information about the everyday life of the settlers of the time,” adds Dr. Jochen Haberstroh, responsible archaeologist at the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.

Inside the well, archaeologists discovered 26 bronze garment pins, amber beads, two metal spirals, an animal tooth wrapped in metal to make a pendant, and more than 70 ceramic vessels. The vessels are high quality, finely wrought, decorated bowls, cups and pots. These were not everyday use objects, but rather expensive wares typically found in graves from the Middle Bronze Age (1800-1200 B.C.). The condition they were found in at the bottom of the well indicates they were lowered carefully into the water, not dropped or thrown.

The remains of Bronze Age settlements have been found before in the Germering area, and more than 70 wells ranging in date from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages. The newly-discovered well would originally have been more than five meters (16.4 feet) deep, significantly deeper than the others, evidence that it was in use at a time when the water table had dropped likely due to an extended period of drought. The hardships of the drought may have spurred the residents to sacrifice their valuables in the well to appease their emotionally unavailable deities.

Since the beginning of 2021, archaeologists have been working in advance of construction work for a letter distribution center on the area where the well has now been discovered. The excavations are among the largest area excavations of the past year in Bavaria. In the meantime, the scientists there have been able to document around 13,500 archaeological finds, mainly from the Bronze Age and the early Middle Ages. Some of the finds are currently being examined and conserved at the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. After completion of the subsequent restoration work, these are expected to be made accessible to science and the public at the end of the year in the Germering City Museum.

Neutrons reveal bones inside medieval reliquary

Medieval

Neutron tomography has revealed fragments of bones sealed inside a 12th century reliquary pendant. The gold and enamel pendant was discovered in a medieval refuse pit in the Old City neighborhood of Mainz in 2008. It is a Greek cross with rounded ends 6 cm (2.4 inches) high and wide. It is made of gold-plated copper with enamel decoration depicting on one side Jesus in the center square with the four Evangelists in the rounded semicircular ends. The other side has Mary in the center square and four female saints on the ends. It was made in the late 12th century at a workshop in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, in Germany.

Only three other relic containers of this type, referred to as phylacteries, are known to date. The term phylactery is derived from the Greek term for safekeeping or protection. Their owners wore them on their bodies, usually hung around the neck.

Restorers at the Leibniz Center for Archeology (LEIZA) confirmed that it was worn as a pendant during the long conservation process when they discovered a fragment of silk cord trapped in the hanging loop. They also discovered that the locking mechanism was severely corroded and the reliquary would have been irreparably damaged in the attempt to open it.

So instead they turned to technology to look inside the pendant. They first attempted an X-ray, but the contents of the reliquary could not be discerned. The LEIZA researchers worked with experts at the Technical University of Munich to deploy non-invasive, non-destructive neutron tomography. This revealed there were five small packets inside containing splinters of bone, presumably the relics of a saint or religious figure. Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) with neutrons identified the contents as silk, linen and bone.

“We can’t say whether or not these bone splinters are from a saint and, if so, which one. Usually relic packages contain a strip of parchment indicating the name of the saint. In this case, however, we unfortunately can’t see one. As an archaeological research institute of the Leibniz Association, we consider it our duty to preserve the object in its historical authenticity as completely as possible for future generations and to leverage the modern opportunities of non-destructive investigation at the Technical University of Munich,” says [LEIZA restorer Matthias] Heinzel.

The restored pendant is now on display in the medieval exhibition AUREA MAGONTIA—Mainz in the Middle Ages at the Mainz State Museum.