Born in Boston, USA, David Schonfeld enlisted in the American forces in 1943 and fought in Belgium, France and Holland as an anti-aircraft gunner. At the end of the war, Schonfeld came to a village in the vicinity of Aachen. There, a German local was looking among the American troops for a Jewish soldier, and was directed to him. The man took Schonfeld to his home and showed him a box of jewelry that had belonged to his Jewish neighbor, a jeweler who specialized in carving ivory. The jeweler had been deported to the camps and presumably murdered. The villager was intent on returning the jewelry to Jewish hands. Schonfeld refused to take the box but agreed to take one bracelet. Of the complete bracelet, only one bead has survived.
Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection
Donated by Adina Kalchheim, Jerusalem
