spice container & Kiddush Cup for Havdalah
Voyage to Ottawa: My parents brought these objects when they came to Canada in the fall of 1969. They passed these items down to me. Currently, my son has one of the identical menorahs, and my daughter has the candlesticks and the other menorah.
Name of Exhibit: Keeping Traditions Against All Odds
Submitted by: Muriel Korngold Wexler
Date of Origin: 1930s
Origin of the Objects: France
Description: Six objects that my parents kept and carried as they hid in various places throughout France such as Strasbourg and Lyon during the Holocaust.
This included ritual items such as a Kiddush cup, a spice container, two identical menorahs, a pair of candlesticks, a pair of candle holders, and an etrog container. While in hiding, my parents tried to keep as many Jewish traditions as possible like Shabbat, Sukkot, and Hanukkah.
My mother and father met in Strasbourg, France. At the time, my father was the manager of a French bank and my mother worked for him. They got married in Nuremberg, Germany, around 1929. They remained in Nuremberg until the early fall of 1933 when they moved back to Strasbourg. My parents stayed in Strasbourg until the Nazis invaded France in June 1940 and annexed Alsace-Lorraine into the Third Reich. Consequently, they moved south to Lyon and stayed there till the end of the war. After the war, they eventually settled in Canada in 1969.
Candlesticks & Menorah
Etrog Container & Dual Candle Holder
