The pendant, which, apparently, was made for the head of the Judenrat in the Лоód</s> ghetto, will be put up for auction on October 24.
Chaim Mordechai Rumkovski, the so-called elder of the Jews, worked as head of the Judenrat throughout the existence of the Лоódского ghetto. Rumkovskiy is considered one of the most controversial leaders of the Judenrat due to his frequent contacts with the Germans and the dictatorial treatment of the Jews of his ghetto. Some historians consider him a collaborator and traitor, while others believe that he undertook a serious but defective attempt to save as many Jews as possible. In August 1944, Rumkovski and his family, the last transport from Lodz, were taken to Auschwitz and killed there. According to one of the stories about his death, Rumkovskiy was beaten to death by one of the Sonderkommando in Birkenau, which included Jews from the Lodz ghetto.
In 1981, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that a pendant made for him arrived in Israel. On Tuesday, it will be put up for sale through the Israeli auction house Winner's with a starting price of $ 5,000. "This magnificent pendant serves as a historical testimony to the character and behavior of Rumkowski, which allowed him to act as" president "or" king "as head of the Judenrat," the text accompanying the image of the pendant on Winner's website says.
There is evidence that this object was made in the Lodz ghetto in honor of Rumkovskiy and eventually fell into the hands of the surviving victim of the Holocaust Yakov Tsvi Yoskvits, who was imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto. After the war, he was hospitalized in Theresienstadt, and then transferred to Lodz, after which he went in search of rare Hasidic manuscripts that were buried in the Lodz cemetery during the war. He immigrated to Israel and preserved the manuscripts found in the ghetto. "There are several theories about how this pendant fell into his possession. Perhaps he accidentally found him in the ghetto before he was taken from him, or after his release, or he may have acquired it later, "says the website page devoted to the auction. The pendant eventually fell into the hands of the collector of antiques in Britain, Rabbi Meir Brown, who later gave it to his daughter. He tried to sell this item two years ago through the Kedem auction house at a starting price of $ 40,000, but the pendant remained unsold.
Rabbi Brown said that he would like it to be exhibited in the museum, in particular, calling the Mishkan Museum of Art in Ein Harod. Brown bought a pendant in Bnei Brak about 45 years ago.
The pendant includes Jewish motifs such as scales, lions, tablets with ten commandments, Star of David, menorah, shofar and the crown of the Torah. The pendant consists of three sections. The word "Litzmannstadt", the German name of the Lodz ghetto, is written on the Hebrew pendant. Also on it there are inscriptions "President M. Kh. Rumkovskiy" and "Am Israel High". In addition to this pendant masters, other, simpler objects were created in the Lodz ghetto in honor of Rumkovskiy. These items are in Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
The pendant was restored, professionally cleaned and gilded, and the missing zircons were replaced.
Winner's CEO, Gal Wiener says that the real cost of the pendant is between $ 15,000 and $ 20,000.