Ashtray from a camp for Jewish Displaced Persons

The tree stump with a new instinct symbolizes the Shoah survivors, the "Sh'erit ha-Pletah" (the rescued rest), that organized themselves after the war. It represents the tree of life, the "Etz Chaim," which expresses the messianic hope of returning to the Holy Land - for, as the Hebrew inscription states, "In spite of everything, Israel lives."

The American aid organization American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Joint) was active among the Jewish Displaced Persons (DPs) after 1945: it helped with food and clothing and provided funds for organizing emigration. Ashtrays like these were ordered by Joint not only to equip the DP camps. Joint also promoted the vocational qualification of the DPs, for example in ceramics and pottery, and produced utility ceramics partly in large number, such as ashtrays or seder plates.