Additional tragic history about the maker and the tiara Archived Message
Posted by ErikS on July 28, 2018, 8:15 pm, in reply to "Queen Geraldine of Albania Tiara/ Frank's Files"
I found the following article in the weekly newspaper of the Dutch Union for Diamond Workers of July 1st 1938. 'In the past week, as the Jewish Chronicle of June 17 reports from Vienna, the arrests of Jews on the street continued unhindered. Again a large number of censured post cards from concentration camp Dachau confirmed the fate of many hundreds of Jews that were arrested in the past 14 days. Relatives were only informed that the sender was doing well and could use some money... Amongst those that were arrested reccently, are amongst others Moritz Oesterreicher, one of the most prominent jewellers in Vienna and his son. This firm, founded a couple of generations ago, was the official supplier to the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Court. Only weeks ago they delivered to the King of Albania the tiara that was worn by his bride during their wedding. It is reported that the number of arrests among Viennese Jews in the jewellery trade is especially high. Some people even estimate that 90% of the Austrian Jewish jewellers are in captivity and that their businesses are left behind in the hands of the nazi commissioners.' I am doing a lot research into Amsterdam jewellers and diamond traders. The nazis are responsible for the fact that it is very hard to reconstruct their history other than from public sources, hardly any archive survived World War II. The total annihilation of Jews not only meant their lives, but also their culture and goods, and the jewellers went first because they were the most 'profitable'.
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