Contemporary History Collection

This swan hat was part of a stage costume belonging to the performance artist, entertainer, writer, and actor Lotti Huber (1912–1998). She wore it at a gala at the Renaissance Theater celebrating her eighty-fifth birthday on 18 October 1997. It is made of silk, swan feathers, textiles, and probably paper maché and was produced by Fiona Bennett hatters; Jewish Museum Berlin; photo: Jens Ziehe. Further information on this object can be found in our online collections

The Friedenstempel synagogue in Wilmersdorf was estalished in 1923 and destroyed in 1938. Its ruins were torn down in 1959. This cast-iron plaque was affixed until 1988 to the apartment building that took its place; Jewish Museum Berlin; photo: Jens Ziehe.

This sign came from the wholesale flower market on the site of what is now the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin. Building a collection about the history of our museum includes preserving little precious finds like this one; Jewish Museum Berlin.

This metal suitcase with gold-colored fittings bears a sticker reading “United States Customs Service.” It belonged to Leo and Genia Beer. Genia came from Radom, Poland, and survived multiple concentration camps. During the war, her husband Leo served in the Soviet army in Tashkent. The couple met in Poland, made their way from there to the Pocking DP camp in the American Zone of Germany, and emigrated to Montreal with their son in 1949–50. They brought the suitcase with them on their journey from Germany to Canada. According to family lore, the suitcase was briefly used as a bathtub. Their son Max Beer, who was born in 1947 in the Pocking DP camp, was bathed in it as a baby; Jewish Museum Berlin, gift of Max Beer; photo: Jens Ziehe.

This Soviet medal “For heroic service in the Great Motherland’s War, 1941–1945” was awarded to Leo Scheuer (1909–2002) on 25 November 1956. After his escape from the Wartkowice Ghetto in October 1942 and fifteen months in hiding, he was freed by soldiers of the Red Army in February 1944 and initially worked in Wartkowice as a doctor. After the war, he worked as a tuberculosis doctor in various hospitals in Ukraine. He moved to East Germany in 1965; Jewish Museum Berlin; gift of Leo Scheuer, photo: Jens Ziehe.

Jewish National Fund handkerchief, between 1950 and 1999; Jewish Museum Berlin; gift of Esther-Eva Schmidt; photo: Jens Ziehe