Fake diamond ring bartered to save the life of a Jewish family 2013.312.1 right side

Finger ring made by Abraham (Bumek) Gruber in 1942 using crystal and nickel to simulate a diamond ring. In 1943, Bumek was working as a butcher at the oil refinery camp Galizien in German occupied Poland with his wife Blimka and daughter Liba. That summer, the Germans took Blimka and Liba, and other Jewish families, and executed them in the Bronica forest. Bumek planned to give himself up in the next Aktion, but he met Tusia and her 4 year old daughter Fela and formed a bond that changed his mind. He decided to go into hiding with them in Mlynki Szkolnikowe, where his family had once lived. He went to the farm of Jan and Zofia Sawinski and offered them the ring in exchange for hiding him and his new family. When the Sawinski's wanted to sell the ring to buy livestock, Bumek told them it was a family heirloom and begged them to wait until after the war, when he would buy them a new cow. His sister Laura, with her husband Jakub and children, Marcel, 9, and Mila, 7, also were being hidden by the Sawinski's. During the winter, they hid in an underground dugout with six other Jews rescued by the Sawinski's. The Soviet Army liberated the region on August 7, 1944. Only about 600 Jews, from a population of nearly 50,000, were still alive.

Finger ring made by Abraham (Bumek) Gruber in 1942 using crystal and nickel to simulate a diamond ring. In 1943, Bumek was working as a butcher at the oil refinery camp Galizien in German occupied Poland with his wife Blimka and daughter Liba. That summer, the Germans took Blimka and Liba, and other Jewish families, and executed them in the Bronica forest. Bumek planned to give himself up in the next Aktion, but he met Tusia and her 4 year old daughter Fela and formed a bond that changed his mind. He decided to go into hiding with them in Mlynki Szkolnikowe, where his family had once lived. He went to the farm of Jan and Zofia Sawinski and offered them the ring in exchange for hiding him and his new family. When the Sawinski's wanted to sell the ring to buy livestock, Bumek told them it was a family heirloom and begged them to wait until after the war, when he would buy them a new cow. His sister Laura, with her husband Jakub and children, Marcel, 9, and Mila, 7, also were being hidden by the Sawinski's. During the winter, they hid in an underground dugout with six other Jews rescued by the Sawinski's. The Soviet Army liberated the region on August 7, 1944. Only about 600 Jews, from a population of nearly 50,000, were still alive.