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Artifacts Unpacked

Every Artifact Has a Story to Tell

Each artifact in our collection has a story to tell. The Artifacts Unpacked video series takes you behind the scenes to learn about the objects the Museum protects and how they keep alive the memory and experiences of victims and witnesses of the Holocaust.

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  • The Puppet

    US Army Medic Eldon G. Nicholas found a way to bring joy to children in the Vittel internment camp in France.

  • The School Pictures

    When it was time to go back to school for second grade, Yoka Verdoner found out the Nazis excluded Jewish children from public schools in German-occupied Netherlands.

  • The Olympic Torch Holder

    More than 3,000 runners, including Austrian Jew Eric Frisch, carried torches from Olympia, Greece, to Berlin, Germany, to kick off the 1936 Olympics.

  • The Backpack

    The Brust family could not carry much as they set out on their dangerous journey to escape persecution, dressing in layers and taking a backpack as they moved from place to place.

  • The Baby Clothes

    Priska Löwenbein was two months pregnant when she was deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Against all odds, she stayed alive and concealed her pregnancy.

  • The Violin

    The life of violinist Gabriel Reinhardt—and the lives of his family and community members—was upended when the Nazis escalated persecution against Romani people.

  • The American Family’s Record

    An American couple captured footage of Germany's annexation of Austria, providing a uniquely personal view of this historical moment and the upheaval that followed.

  • The Stuffed Rabbit

    A prisoner in Theresienstadt managed to sew a toy for four-year-old Éva Erszebet Kiss, who held onto it for more than 70 years.

  • The Home Movies

    After surviving the Holocaust, Louis de Groot retrieved film footage his father had taken of their family before they separated and went into hiding.

  • The Teddy Bear

    How did a boy's stuffed animal help the Butzke family escape Nazi persecution and start a new life in the United States?