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Collection Overview
Scope and Contents of the Materials
18 sapphires.
Collection Historical Note
Darrel Couturier’s family were forced to flee their home in Germany in 1935 due the rise of the Nazis. Darrel’s grandfather had a business in Frankfurt and realized the danger the family faced in Germany. before he died in 1933, he urged his wife (Darrel’s grandmother – Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman), to get the family out of Germany. Over the next 2 years, Anna packed up the family’s possessions, including a large Jewish art collection. Much of this was confiscated by the Nazis never to be retrieved. However, Anna took sapphires from the family jewelry, and ingeniously sewed them into the family’s clothing in order to smuggle the gems out of Germany. The family left Germany in 1935, but as they were unable to obtain US visas right away, the emigrated to the Hague (via Switzerland), where they lived for 2 years. They ultimately emigrated to the US, ending up in New York. Anna held on to the sapphires until she passed away in the late 1970s, when they were passed on to Darrel’s mother, Marion B. Sondheimer-Couturier. When she passed away in June 2018, Darrel generously decided to donate the sapphires to the museum, in the name of these two women.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Acquisition Method:
Donated by Darrel Couturier, in the name of his grandmother – Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman, and his mother - Marion B. Sondheimer-Couturier.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Collection of Folder-Level:
[Collection of Folder-Level 1: RG-117, Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman Collection, 1933],
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- Collection of Folder-Level 1: RG-117, Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman Collection, 1933
- Darrel Couturier’s family were forced to flee their home in Germany in 1935 due the rise of the Nazis. Darrel’s grandfather had a business in Frankfurt and realized the danger the family faced in Germany. before he died in 1933, he urged his wife (Darrel’s grandmother – Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman), to get the family out of Germany. Over the next 2 years, Anna packed up the family’s possessions, including a large Jewish art collection. Much of this was confiscated by the Nazis never to be retrieved. However, Anna took sapphires from the family jewelry, and ingeniously sewed them into the family’s clothing in order to smuggle the gems out of Germany. The family left Germany in 1935, but as they were unable to obtain US visas right away, the emigrated to the Hague (via Switzerland), where they lived for 2 years. They ultimately emigrated to the US, ending up in New York. Anna held on to the sapphires until she passed away in the late 1970s, when they were passed on to Darrel’s mother, Marion B. Sondheimer-Couturier. When she passed away in June 2018, Darrel generously decided to donate the sapphires to the museum, in the name of these two women.
- Arrangement: This collection is made up of 18 sapphires.
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Extent: This collection is made up of 18 sapphires.
- Subject/Index Terms:
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Sondheimer-Friedman
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Sapphires
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Jewels
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Smuggling
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Jews escape from German occupied Europe
-
family histories
-
Couturier Family
- Document/Artifact of Item-Level 1: RG-117.01, Sapphires
Darrel Couturier’s family were forced to flee their home in Germany in 1935 due the rise of the Nazis. Darrel’s grandfather had a business in Frankfurt and realized the danger the family faced in Germany. before he died in 1933, he urged his wife (Darrel’s grandmother – Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman), to get the family out of Germany. Over the next 2 years, Anna packed up the family’s possessions, including a large Jewish art collection. Much of this was confiscated by the Nazis never to be retrieved. However, Anna took sapphires from the family jewelry, and ingeniously sewed them into the family’s clothing in order to smuggle the gems out of Germany. The family left Germany in 1935, but as they were unable to obtain US visas right away, the emigrated to the Hague (via Switzerland), where they lived for 2 years. They ultimately emigrated to the US, ending up in New York. Anna held on to the sapphires until she passed away in the late 1970s, when they were passed on to Darrel’s mother, Marion B. Sondheimer-Couturier. When she passed away in June 2018, Darrel generously decided to donate the sapphires to the museum, in the name of these two women.
The collection includes 18 Sapphires donated by Darrel Couturier. Darrel's grandmother, Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman, smuggled the jewels out of Germany when the family fled the Nazis, by sewing the sapphires into the family's clothes.
- Arrangement: The collection is arranged in 1 box
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Extent: 18 individual sapphires, small in size and varying in color.
- Subject/Index Terms:
-
Sondheimer-Friedman
-
Sapphires
-
Jewels
-
Smuggling
-
Jews escape from German occupied Europe
-
family histories
-
Couturier Family
Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedma... 
