The kippah, The yarmulke,
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The Suitcase
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Caroline Poole
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The Suitcase Project - Background
Artist Caroline Poole, nee Gaspar had the suitcase in the loft for many years. It lay unopened until May 2024.
"The suitcase represents for me a big world some of which I don’t have any experience of. It’s linked to my past my parents, grandparents who came from Hungary and also about me growing up," Caroline Poole.
The Suitcase Project is a record of a time, a place and of survival through the lens of Caroline Poole's family, the Gaspars and what she discovered from the suitcase. Her father and Grandparents on her father's side came from Hungary. They were Hungarian Jews even though the family considered themselves Hungarian primarily. They had a successful life in Budapest. Later on as the Nazi threat became more obvious some of the family members were baptised as a means to try and save their lives. However at least 10 family members perished in Auschwitz concentration camp.
From letters found in the suitcase and recently translated you can see that the family were squabbling amongst themselves.Those family squabbles were happening in the shadow of an existential threat, of which the family may not have been aware at the time. Hitler was looming over their shoulders. Were the family aware of what was to befall them? And if so what could they have done to escape? Life is fragile, what seems stable and secure can turn upside down. Many family members perished in Auschwitz.
It would be key to try and find out from research - and then to highlight in the project - that people may or may not have sensed the danger lurking in the background as they went about their daily business. How differently might they have treated each other or resolved their conflicts if they had known that those misunderstandings were petty and meaningless in light of the greater danger threatening?
The Suitcase
On November 20, 1940, Hungary became the fourth member to join the Axis powers when it signed the Tripartite Pact. In 1941, Hungarian forces joined in the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia. Hungary under Miklos Horthy (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957), a vehement anti-Semite who ruled the country from 1920 until 1944, enacted a series of anti-Jewish laws, banning Jews from professions and government work, marrying non-Jews and voting. Gypsies were similarly persecuted and enslaved.
The real horror was to come. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were massacred. After the Occupation of Hungary by German forces on 19 March 1944, between April and June 1944, 450,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to death camps in occupied Poland. flashbak.com
The real horror was to come. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were massacred. After the Occupation of Hungary by German forces on 19 March 1944, between April and June 1944, 450,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to death camps in occupied Poland. flashbak.com
We will use material from other Jewish people living under the threat of Hitler.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch: from The Commandant's Shadow documentarymentary recalled the eruption of antisemitism that engulfed her as a child: “Children spat at me in the street and called me a dirty Jew. I did not really understand what was going on. One just had to accept that one was different. One did not belong to the master race.”
