Hahn 75th Business Anniversary Card; Kennkarte

Overview

The first artefact is a card celebrating 75 years of the Hahn family’s business in 1933. It is unknown who had produced this card but it is likely that the creator of the card is one of the Hahn family members themselves.  This card was used to celebrate the 75th anniversary of their business, but more importantly, it was used to express pride for their Jewish heritage as they publicly announced their anniversary (as a Jewish business) even after the Nazi party took control. A few years after the anniversary was publically announced, in 1938, Max Hahn was arrested during the Kristallnacht pogrom, and his valuables, such as silver Judaica, were taken away from him. He was sent to Riga with his wife, Gertrud. Even though they were sent to the Riga Ghetto,  their children who were in England were still hopeful that their parents would survive.

The second artefact is a Jewish identity card (Kennkarte) that every Jewish citizen was given after the Nuremberg race laws had been passed in 1935. This identity card was used by German officials to determine the difference between a “Jew” and a “real” German. Jewish identity cards had a large stamped “J” and the middle names of each citizen were changed to either Sara (for women) or Israel (for men), according to the Law on Alteration of Family and Personal Names enacted on August 17, 1938. These identity cards played a significant role in the lives of Jewish people in Germany, as they were discriminated against and were unable to do everyday things such as travel, go to the cinema, as well as just being a normal citizen in Germany.

Meaning

Max Hahn was sent to Riga just like Hilde Sherman, whose testimony we read during the course. The deportation to Riga was gruesome, and the Jewish deportees had to give up the valued goods that they had packed under the assumption that they would be safe during the deportation. Max Hahn, being a businessman, was most likely taken advantage of because of his wealth and it is possible that he had to give up very expensive things. The Jewish identity card represents oppression, since the segregation of Jewish people from non-Jews was facilitated through the information on the cards. Jewish people were forced to present these cards wherever they went when they were stopped by the Gestapo.

Aftermath

The Jewish identity card still has significant meaning as it shows one of the ways in which Jews were segregated from other people by the Nazis. It is possible that they have a traumatic meaning for Jewish survivors today.

Works Cited

“From the Testimony of Hilde Sherman about the Deportation to Riga and the Arrival to the Ghetto.” Yad Vashem Archives, The International School for Holocaust Studies, https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%203287.pdf. Accessed 07 May 2020.

Treasured Belongings. The Hahn Family & the Search for a Stolen Legacy. 8 Nov. 2019 – 27 Nov. 2020,  Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, Vancouver.