Inside the Glass Case
Inside the Glass Case offers educational videos, survivor testimony, photos, lesson plans, and other resources that will engage, educate, and empower you and your students.
Inside the Glass Case
Inside the Glass Case offers educational videos, survivor testimony, photos, lesson plans, and other resources that will engage, educate, and empower you and your students.
On-Demand Museum Experiences
Children's Book: Trust No Fox
Learn about Nazi Ideology and propaganda through a children’s book published in 1936, and how these ideas influenced people’s actions.
Daily life for Jewish people living in Germany began to look very different once Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. Propaganda was a powerful tool used to spread Nazi Ideology and hateful antisemitic attitudes.
At the Zekelman Holocaust Center, we have hundreds of artifacts and other items on display for our visitors to learn from. Unlike reading panels on a wall or paragraphs in a textbook, these objects tell stories and provide an opportunity to directly connect with the past. We want to know what it is, where it came from, who it belongs to. They provide clues to guide our study and help us find lessons for today.
This artifact is a children’s book called “Trust No Fox on His Green Heath and No Jew on His Oath.” It was published in Germany in 1936.
Soon after Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in 1933, efforts were made to organize society according to Nazi ideology. In this ideology, people were defined by their race. Germans, or Aryans, were the superior race whereas Jews were inferior. They were evil and were the primary enemy of the German people. Life, therefore, began to look and feel very different for Jewish people in Germany.
There were boycotts against Jewish-owned businesses. Jewish professionals holding government jobs as lawyers and judges and even as public school teachers and professors were dismissed from their positions. Jewish doctors could not treat non-Jewish patients and public book burnings took place throughout Germany in which many books written by Jewish authors were burned.
Antisemitism, the hatred of Jewish people, had existed long before the Nazis came to power in Germany. The long-standing and deeply rooted stereotypes and beliefs were used as the core of Nazi ideology. Joseph Goebbels, the head of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, was responsible for communicating Nazi messaging and ideology through the media. Films, books, radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, and educational materials reached people all over the country. Across all of these platforms, stereotypes of Jewish people were spread to stir up suspicion, fear, and hatred.
In 1936, Julius Streicher published this children’s book. It was written by Elvira Bauer who at the time was an 18-year-old kindergarten teacher. The goal was to instill hate at a very young age. On the cover of the book, we see a drawing of a Jew and a fox. Throughout Nazi propaganda, both foxes and Jews are depicted as cunning creatures that could not be trusted. Each page of the book contains a nursery rhyme that describes Jewish people as ugly, sneaky, and frightening.
[Narrator] “We do not buy from Jewish shops,” says the mother to the child. “It is only German goods we buy. Remember that, my darling.” It’s going to be fine in the schools at last for all of the Jews must leave.
These words, images, and messages mattered. People of all ages were influenced by these ideas and their hateful thoughts and biased attitudes led to actions. Martin Lowenberg, a local Holocaust survivor and speaker at our museum, was born in 1928 in Schenklengsfeld, Germany. In 1936, when Martin was in third grade, his teacher falsely accused him of sticking his tongue out at a picture of Hitler. In response, his classmates beat him up. The hatred they had learned turned into violence. After this incident, Martin’s parents sent him to a Jewish boarding school 150 miles away from home. Martin continues to share his story at our museum today to help us understand the dangerous consequences of hate.
- Where do you see hatred in our world today?
- What can be done to help change its course?
- What can you do to make a difference?
Trust No Fox on His Green Heath and No Jew on His Oath is an antisemitic children’s book, which was published in 1936 Nazi Germany by Stürmer Verlag, a publishing house owned by Julius Streicher, the founder and publisher of Der Stürmer tabloid. The original German title refers to a 1543 pamphlet by Martin Luther, (On the Jews and their Lies). In Nazi German propaganda, both the fox and “the Jew” were seen as cunning creatures, neither of which could be trusted. The book was written by Elvira Bauer, an 18-year-old kindergarten teacher and Nazi supporter, and was illustrated by Fips (the penname of Philip Ruprecht), a frequent contributor of antisemitic cartoons to Der Stürmer. In ten nursery rhymes of propaganda, “Bauer wrote the book to explain Nazi racial ideology and expose Jews as evil creatures who cannot be trusted”, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Bauer portrays “the Jew” as the devil, the murderer of Christ and Germans alike, a shifting yet unchanging being, who cheats, corrupts, and defiles the good, hard-working German. In this piece of children’s literature, for all intents and purposes, “the Jew” is the antithesis of the German, and all for which he or she stands. The book concludes with a proposed solution, to rid the Jews from Germany, sending them back to the land from which they came. Each nursery rhyme is accompanied by antisemitic illustrations that visually convey Bauer’s messages.
***This is one of two virulently antisemitic children’s books illustrated by Fips under Streicher’s publishing house. According to Randall Bytwerk of Calvin University, approximately 100,000 copies were printed, many of which were used in schools across Nazi Germany.
Sources
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Antisemitic Children’s Rhyme and Picture Book. https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn538392
Bauer, Elvira. Trust No Fox on His Green Heath and No Jew on His Oath. Illustrated by Philip Ruprecht, and translated by Randall Bytwerk. Nuremberg: Stürmer Verlag, 1936. Translated in 2003. https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/fuchs.htm.
Steve Lewkowicz’s Uniform
Learn about the Final Solution and life in the camps through a local survivor’s story and a close look at his uniform from Buchenwald.
During the Holocaust, the Nazis ran more than 30,000 labor and concentration camps. Six death camps in Poland were designed for efficient mass murder of Jewish people. Learn more about life in these camps, as well as about The Final Solution in the video.
At the Zekelman Holocaust Center, we have hundreds of artifacts and other items on display for our visitors to learn from. Unlike reading panels on a wall or paragraphs in a textbook, these objects tell stories and provide an opportunity to directly connect with the past. We want to know what it is, where it came from, who it belongs to. They provide clues to guide our study and help us find lessons for today.
This blue and white striped uniform was worn by Steve Lewkowicz during the Holocaust. When Steve was 14 years old the Nazis invaded his hometown in Poland. After a few months, Steve was taken away from his family and never saw them again.
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they established the first concentration camps to imprison enemies of the state. Many of the prisoners were targeted because of their political views and ethnic backgrounds, or because they were considered social deviants. Communists, socialists, Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses and gay men were all imprisoned.
Steve passed away several years ago, but his memory and experience live on through this artifact.
- Why do you think Steve kept the uniform for so many years?
- Why do you think he donated it to the museum?
- What do you learn about the Holocaust from this artifact?
On November 9th and 10th, 1938, a wave of anti-Jewish attacks or pogroms took place in Nazi occupied Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland. On this horrifying night called, Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, hundreds of synagogues were burned, 7,500 Jewish owned businesses were vandalized and 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and other concentration camps.
By the end of World War II, tens of thousands of camps had been established all over Europe.
Between 1941 and 1943, six killing centers were created to carry out the final solution. The final solution was a euphemism used by Nazi leaders to refer to the mass murder of millions of Jewish people in Europe. Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau were designed for efficient mass murder of Jewish people.
Jews who had been living in ghettos or other camps were transported by train to these killing centers. Upon their arrival, most were sent directly into the gas chambers. Some were selected for slave labor.
When Steve was taken away from his family, he was sent to work as a slave laborer in several different camps. At every camp the conditions were horrible. Prisoners were given very little food, a cup of watery soup and a piece of bread, each day. On such empty stomachs, they were forced to perform very difficult work, such as working in factories, digging in coal mines, building railroads and cutting down trees. Often, prisoners were given striped uniforms to wear. On a bitter cold winter day or in the sticky summer heat they wore the same uniform. Prisoners were not called by their names. Instead they were issued an identification number. At Auschwitz, the number was tattooed on their arm. At other camps, it was sewn onto their uniforms.
Despite the terrible conditions, brutality and dehumanization, prisoners found ways to maintain their humanity and dignity. They whispered prayers to secretly celebrate holidays, encouraged one another to keep going and hid forbidden objects in their clothing and barracks.
Towards the end of the war, the allied troops had advanced toward Germany from the East and West. Germany was surrounded. The German troops began to retreat. To cover up their crimes, Nazi camp leaders forced the inmates to walk to concentration camps in Germany. These forced marches have come to be known as death marches.
Steve was sent on a death march from an Auschwitz sub camp in Poland to Buchenwald located near Weimar, Germany. When he arrived there, he was given this uniform and identification number 128923. The US Army liberated Steve from Buchenwald on April 11th, 1945. He was sent to a nearby hospital to recover from his injuries and regain his strength. Eventually, he connected with relatives in Michigan and came to live with them.
Steve kept his uniform for many years until he chose to donate it to our museum. We keep it on display here to help visitors see what an actual camp uniform looks like and to learn about life in the camps. We keep it on display to share Steve’s story.
Steve Lewkowicz was born on December 2, 1925 in Boleslawiec, Poland. His father, Moshe, was a businessman that used to buy and sell chickens. His mother, Bluma, was a housewife and took care of Steve and his two sisters, Gita and Liba. As a young boy, he went to Polish school in the morning. After eating lunch at home, he would then go to the Jewish school, or cheder, in the afternoon.
When the war broke out in 1939, Steve recalls hearing the Polish army going towards the German border. Out of fear, they hid in a cellar in the back of their house. The Germans entered their home and walked around, but did not find them. They remained in hiding for a few days while the Germans burnt down houses and buildings. Luckily, their home was spared, but the family decided to leave. After spending a night at an abandoned farm house, the Germans found them and told them to go home, so they went back to their house. Steve had an uncle whose house was destroyed. As a result, he moved in with Steve’s family. Two families – one with three kids and one with two – all lived together in a two-room house.
Everyone was made to wear a yellow star and perform manual labor. They had a curfew and were not allowed to walk on the sidewalks. While their town was not an official ghetto, it operated like one. His family was able to make arrangements for Steve to work on a nearby farm. When he would come home on Sundays he would bring back bread, milk, and eggs for his family. Eventually Steve was discovered and was sent back home.
When deportations started, Steve was taken right away. That was the last time he saw his family. He was taken to a small transit camp, and then to several labor camps. In his testimony recording, he could not remember the names on any of the camps. He was eventually taken to Auschwitz. When he got there, he went through a selection and was tattooed with the number. After a few months, he was sent to Jaworzno, where he worked in the coal mines.
As the Allies made their advance in Poland, Steve was sent on a death march to Buchenwald where he worked in stone pits. Again, he was supposed to be sent on a death march, but he laid on a pile of dead bodies and was spared. A few days later, the camp was liberated by the US Army. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for treatment. Once his strength had returned, he went to the Landsberg DP Camp where he lived for roughly 4 years before immigrating to the United States.
Steve knew that he had an uncle in Detroit that was a baker. They were able to locate his uncle by working with the bakers union. In 1949, he traveled by boat from Germany to New York. He then took the train to Detroit. After two weeks, he began to look for a job. Since he did not know any English, his uncle completed his application to work at the Dodge factory in Hamtramck, Michigan. There, he was able to speak to his colleagues in Polish. In the evenings, he attended night school at Central High School in Detroit. Eventually, he switched occupations and worked at a glass business. Eventually, he became the sole owner of the company. He and his wife, Phyllis, have three children and many grandchildren. He passed away in 1997.
Samuel Pruchno’s Paintings
Learn about life in the camps, the death marches, and liberation through a series of paintings by a local survivor.
After a full career, local survivor Samuel Pruchno dedicated his time to painting. The series of paintings that he donated to our museum teach us about the Holocaust in general, and his story in particular. Learn more in the video.
Teaching With Survivor Art (you need to create this page, then link it here)
At the Zekelman Holocaust Center, we have hundreds of artifacts and other items on display for our visitors to learn from. Unlike reading panels on a wall or paragraphs in a textbook, these objects tell stories and provide an opportunity to directly connect with the past. We want to know what it is, where it came from, who it belongs to. They provide clues to guide our study and help us find lessons for today.
When Samuel Pruchno retired from his career, he devoted his time and attention to becoming an artist. Doing so had been a longtime dream. He studied with master artists and created seven paintings that are on display in our museum. His works are both his own expression that capture his feelings and perspective and a gift for us to learn from.
Sam was born in Lithuania in 1927. He has sweet memories of growing up as the youngest of four children. His life was turned upside down when the Nazis invaded his hometown. Sam, his brother, and brother in law remained together throughout the war. The rest of his family members did not survive.
In the concentration camps at Stutthof and Dachau, Sam stood for hours each day as the guards and officers counted each prisoner. Every morning, no matter the weather, the prisoners were counted before leaving for work and when they returned.
There are more than 1,200 men in this painting. Sam painted each one with a face and an identification number. He made sure that each number was actually assigned to someone at Dachau. He painted himself and his brother. They are identified by their numbers: 84782 and 86018. As an artistic representation of his camp experience, he painted a small kitchen, an infirmary, a crematorium, and several barracks.
As the Allies advanced into Europe, the Nazis began to evacuate camps and force prisoners on marches into Germany. Prisoners walked for days with little food or time to rest. Many died along the way.
In April 1945, Sam, his brother, and brother in law were sent on a death march from Dachau. They walked for days and would stop to rest at night. One night, Sam stole the Nazi guard’s backpack. Inside was bread and condensed milk. Sam shared it with his brother and brother in law. When they started marching again, Sam felt sick. He needed to lean on his brother for support but didn’t want to be a burden. When the group stopped, Sam escaped.
In this painting, tired and weak prisoners are walking through a German town. The guards are on both sides of the prisoners to make sure that they stay in line. Several have fallen along the way. Sam, again, made sure to give every prisoner in this painting a face and a number. He also painted himself leaning on his brother for support.
After Sam escaped from the death march, a kind woman took him in. She gave him food, a place to rest, and fresh clothes to wear. When her husband came home, he threatened to call the German police. Sam quickly left to spend the night hidden in the woods. The woman ran after him with news she’d just heard on the radio. The Americans would probably be there in the morning. She was right. The next morning, the American army had liberated the prisoners and Sam found his brother and brother in law. Just as Sam remembered, this painting shows U.S. soldiers tossing chocolate bars from their tank. Since Sam was given civilian clothes, he is painted here in a trench coat.
As a survivor, Sam felt an obligation to speak about his story. He knew that one day we would not have the privilege to meet face to face with living witnesses. His paintings tell his story and are full of details for us to notice, think about, and learn from.
- What is the purpose of each detail that you notice?
- What do you think it meant to Sam?
- What does it mean to you?
Roll Call
Roll Call occurred every morning and evening before the inmates left for work and again when they returned. Each inmate had to be accounted for and if the count was incorrect, the inmates had to continue to stand, not moving, until the discrepancy was reconciled. The Nazi guards were afraid that someone might escape. More likely, the missing were dead.
The inmates stood in straight lines, in block formation, to be counted by the block kapo, who reported to a German kapo, who reported to a Nazi officer, who then reported to the Commandant, shown here standing on wooden planks (to keep his boots clean). This could take hours, in sweltering heat, rain, snow, and sub-zero temperatures, each inmate wearing nothing but their striped uniforms.
The kapo was looking for any opportunity to hit the inmates. They would yell: “Caps Up, Caps Down,” and the inmates had to perform in a synchronized manner, or get hit. One time Sam was beaten over the head for slipping out of line to use the latrine. He had diarrhea and didn’t want to soil his clothes; he would not be given another set, nor be allowed to wash.
There are more than 1200 inmates depicted in this painting, including Sam and his brother Al, with their actual numbers shown on their uniforms, 84782 and 86018. In fact all the numbers shown represent actual concentration camp prisoner numbers which Sam obtained from the Dachau archives.
Genocide by Labor
At the Dachau satellite camps, the inmates provided the slave labor used to construct the Ringeltaube, the three semi-subterranean bombproof bunkers in the Landsburg area. The purpose of these enormous bunkers was to camouflage the manufacture of the newest Messerschmitt airplanes, so production could proceed uninterrupted by Allied bombings.
One of the hardest jobs for an inmate was the unloading of bags of cement from the trains. They were heavy and dusty, and had to be carried at a fast pace. If a bag broke, cement dust got everywhere, in their eyes and mouth, in their hair in in their clothing.
For a few weeks Sam was assigned to be the assistant to a steam shovel operator. Sam’s hope was that by working closely with a German civilian, someone who might have children his age and have pity on him, Sam might have a chance to obtain some extra food. The man didn’t so much as throw him a scarp of food; he only barked orders.
One torrential day, the steam shovels had ceased operation, all except one. When the steel cable broke and the bucket came down, Sam had to climb the slippery bridge arm, carrying a 90 pound cable, and put it through the guide wheel fifteen feet off the ground. Sam asked if he could wait until the rain let up, and got a wrench thrown at him in response. If he hadn’t moved, it would have split his head open.
Death March
One morning the German guards walked the inmates out of camp, ostensibly to go to another work camp. In fact, they were being walked away from the approaching Americans on what would come to be known as the Death March. They were given neither food nor water. Those who fell behind or those who fell to the ground and could not get up were shot. Sam became weaker by the hour, his brother Al, and brother-in-law, Yechiel, took turns supporting him, as shown in the lower left corner of the painting.
Later that night they stopped to rest in an open field near Kaufering. Sam was desperate enough that while the German guards slept, he crawled on his belly and stole one of their backpacks. It contained three loaves of bread and four cans of condensed milk, which they divided evenly. The fourth can of milk, Sam drank as well; it shouldn’t go to waste. At daybreak they heard the guards threatening punishment to the thief, but there was no search, besides, the evidence was safely in their stomachs. They were simply ordered to start marching again. A few hours later, the milk caught up with Sam and he started feeling a pain in his stomach that worsened by the minute. All he could think about was escaping into the woods; he didn’t want to be a burden. Sam mentioned this to his brother-in-law, Yechiel, who said the Americans were too close to take any chances.
Liberation
The next morning was foggy, so Sam got his opportunity to escape. He didn’t even have a chance to tell his brother. While the guards were meeting, he crossed the road and went to the first house he saw.
A kind woman let him in, fed him and clothed him in a complete outfit from shoes to hat. He spent the day there. When her husband returned from work, he threatened to call the police. Sam left immediately but couldn’t cross the road into the woods, as the German troops were retreating. The woman ran after him with news she just heard on the radio; the Americans would probably be there in the morning. Sam asked her for a newspaper so he could pretend to read as he watched the troops through a hole he made in the paper. Half an hour later, there was a break in the traffic and Sam, still reading his paper, sauntered across the road and into the woods where he spent the night.
In the morning he felt guilty that he left Al and Yechiel, as he had promised his mother they would all stay together. As he walked to the prisoners’ barracks where he had left them he became increasingly nervous; he did not want to be mistaken for a German soldier who had slipped out of uniform and into civilian clothing.
Sam found his brother and brother-in-law. Late in the morning of May 1, 1945, the American soldiers liberated the inmates, although technically Sam had liberated himself.
Sam is in the lower center of the painting looking more like a reporter than an inmate. From the tank, the soldiers are throwing Hershey bars down to them. Days later, UNRRA trucks came to take the people back to their home countries if they wished to go, as signified by the different flags. Few, if any, Jews wanted to return to the home countries that had betrayed them. But the group of inmates and the cloud above them represents the future state of Israel, a place many would come to call home.
Read more about Samuel Pruchno in Resilience: From Shavl to Southfield via Dachau by Marcia Pruchno Lawrence. This book can be purchased in the Zekelman Holocaust Center’s
Doris & Eric Billes Museum Shop.
Samuel Pruchno describes a very comfortable life in Shavel, Lithuania, where he was born. He lived in a wealthy community where his father was a vice president of a bank. The relations between Jews and non-Jews were “relatively good.” He recalls only a few specific incidents of anti-Semitism among certain elements of the community.
Once the Germans occupied Shavel, Pruchno remembers how their non-Jewish neighbors and friends acted as though his family never existed. He, his brother, sister, and brother-in-law fled to the countryside. When they were forced to return to Shavel, he describes the changes that took place during the next few months. His family was forced to give up their home and move to the Kafkasa ghetto in Shavel. A Judenrat was established and Pruchno remembers that by September 1, 1941, you could only leave the ghetto if you had a work permit. He describes the crowded conditions, lack of food, and the work done in the Frankl Leather Factory.
Pruchno recalls that the Lithuanian partisans demanded that the Judenrat turn over 70 strong young men for hard labor. He and the others were taken to a work camp where there were no sanitary facilities, no clean clothes, no place to wash, and only straw to sleep on. They unloaded railroad ties and laid track. He remembers that when the Germans needed men to work on an airfield, they were brought back to the ghetto.
He recalls that the winter of 1942 was particularly hard on the ghetto inhabitants. Food rations were low and they had to risk their lives to trade valuables with the Lithuanians for extra food. Searches were made every time workers returned to the ghetto and new regulations and demands were made constantly.
Pruchno’s entire family was relocated to an army camp that was approximately one hour from the ghetto. He worked in the laundry. His father was not accustomed to extreme physical work and took ill in 1942. He was taken to the Trakai hospital, where he died in April 1944.
The Pruchno family was eventually returned to the Kafkasa ghetto and Pruchno remembers how he had to slip through a brick wall to trade table cloths and linens for food. When the Germans caught a man bringing two loaves of bread into the ghetto, he had to witness the hanging. He also remembers when the German soldiers surrounded the Trakai ghetto and took all the children away.
Deportations began and Pruchno recalls that each person was allowed to take one suitcase. They were marched to the railroad where approximately 80 people were loaded onto each car. He describes their arrival in the Stutthof concentration camp, how the men and women were separated (this was the last time he saw his mother and sister), and the procedures the men were put through as they were beaten by German kapos. The next day he was taken by truck to a railroad station and again transported by box car to a labor camp near Dachau.
At the camp he unloaded cement and he describes the poor sanitary conditions in the camp and an incident when he was beaten by a Jewish kapo. He details what he had to go through to get a pair of shoes and how he was punished when he stole some bread. Their rations were cut by this time, the lice were torturing them, but they could hear gun fire close by. The prisoners knew the war was coming to an end.
Sometime in April the SS issued orders that no one was to leave for work. Instead the prisoners were marched under heavy guard away from the camp. Pruchno recalls that they received no food or water and that he was getting weaker and weaker. He escaped to a home in a town near Munich and tells how he was treated by the woman who answered the door and her husband. He then describes how he was rejoined with his brother, brother-in-law, and the other prisoners and how they were liberated by the Americans on May 1, 1945.
Additional Artifacts with Lesson Plans
Ben Guyer's Uniform
Learn about dehumanization and the role of uniforms in the camp system through a close look at a survivor’s tailored uniform.
The Boxcar
Learn about deportation and its role in the Final Solution through an analysis of firsthand accounts and our museum's own boxcar.
Ruth Korn's Basket
Learn about the Nazi invasion of Denmark and the struggles of emigration to the United States through a close look at a local survivor’s basket.
Royal Army Medical Corps Report
Learn about the liberation of Bergen-Belsen and the establishment of DP camps through a Royal Army Medical Corps Report.
Hans Weinmann and the Kindertransport
Learn about the Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, and the Kindertransport through the documents and story of a local survivor.
A Wedding Band Discovered
Learn about the camp system and how to analyze an artifact through a wedding band discovered at Dachau.