Hanukkah Lamp – Produced by "She'erit HaPletah" in the Marktredwitz DP Camp – Bavaria, 1947-1948

Hanukkah Lamp – Produced by "She'erit HaPletah" in the Marktredwitz DP Camp – Bavaria, 1947-1948

Hanukkah Lamp – Produced by "She'erit HaPletah" in Germany. Marktredwitz displaced persons camp, American occupation zone in Germany, 1947-1948.
Ceramic painted green, glazed.
The center of the lamp features a tree stump, half of which is cut down, and lying on the ground. The servant light is located on top of a young shoot, branching out of the stump, a symbol for the revival of the Jewish nation. The line of oil fonts is located in the front of the lamp, flanked by the inscription: "The Central Committee in Munich – 5708 [1947-1948]".
The bottom part of the lamp is marked with a stamp (somewhat blurred): "Produced by She'erit HaPletah in the German Exile – EMPLOYMENT BOARD".

According to the archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the present lamp is one of a series of 351 Hanukkah lamps produced in the ceramic workshop of the Marktredwitz DP camp in north-eastern Bavaria between June 1947 and February 1948. The workshop was established by the "Employment Board", an organization founded by the JDC, the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Central Committee of Liberated Jews of Bavaria (ZK), with the aim to provide work for holocaust survivors, equip them with new skills, and furnishing them with materials for everyday life and religious observance.

A report from November 1947, recording the activities of the JDC in the American Zone, reports on the ceramics workshop of the Marktredwitz DP camp, and on the production of Hanukkah lamps by holocaust survivors: "the ceramic workshop is one of our best producing units... an order received from the religious department for Chanukah candleholders has been completed and a very successful product has been manufactured, delivered, and is now being distributed". The report goes on to say: "the people employed in this workshop have never had any previous experience with ceramic work but have made remarkable progress in learning the trade. The work is dirty and hard, and the workers must be given credit for their efforts" (see: JDC Archives, Artifact_00580).

Exhibition: Munich, the Jewish Museum, 2011-2012: Jews 45/90 From here and there – Survivors from East Europe. This item was Illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, "Juden 45/90 Von da und dort – Überlebende aus Osteuropa", Berlin, 2011, no. 5.5.

Height: 11 cm, length: 25.5, depth: approx. 14 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes.