October 25, 2023 – March 17, 2024 | Study Area

Aunt Olga's Silver Candlesticks
A Munich Family History

An exhibition in the Study Area of the Jewish Museum Munich

During the Nazi era, Jews were excluded and disenfranchised by countless laws. In 1939, a decree was issued that forced them to hand over jewellery and valuable household goods. Olga Maier from Munich also had to part with a pair of silver candlesticks.

From birth, Olga Maier had lived in the Bavarian capital and maintained a close relationship with her siblings, nieces, and nephews. Due to the Nazi regime the family was separated from each other. Some relatives fled abroad, Olga herself was unable to do so. She was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1942 and later murdered in the Treblinka concentration camp.

After the Bavarian National Museum acquired the candlesticks for its collection in 1939, their history as well as Olga Maier’s life remained obscure for a long time. It was not until 2022 that the pair of candlesticks was restituted to the community of heirs. In order to preserve the memory of Olga Maier, her descendants donated the candlesticks to the Jewish Museum Munich.

The exhibition in the Study Area tells the story of Olga Maier and her family, which is now scattered all over the world. At the same time, the pair of candlesticks exemplifies the systematic robbery and persecution of Jews during the Nazi era.

Curator
Sarah Steinborn

Exhibition Design
Christoph Sauter