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Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman Collection, 1933

Collection Overview

Title: Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman Collection, 1933

ID: RG-117/RG-117.01/RG-117

Extent: 1.0 Items

Arrangement: 1 box containing 18 saphhires

Date Acquired: 01/15/2019

Scope and Contents of the Materials

18 sapphires.

Administrative Information

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

Collection of Folder-Level 1: RG-117, Dr. Anna Sondheimer-Friedman Collection, 1933Add to your cart.
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.
Extent: This collection is made up of 18 sapphires.
Subject/Index Terms:
Sondheimer-Friedman
Sapphires
Jewels
Smuggling
Jews escape from German occupied Europe
family histories
Couturier Family
Document/Artifact of Item-Level 1: RG-117.01, SapphiresAdd to your cart.View associated digital content.

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
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