Abstract

The Bar Mitzvah, for boys, and the Bat Mitzvah, for girls, is an important coming of age celebration for Jewish young people. The celebration includes important rituals such as the reading of the Torah scroll for the first time, a festive meal, and gift giving. It is usually attended by extended family and friends. After the Nazi rise to power in 1933, Jewish families continued to celebrate this important tradition in their children’s development. Depicted here is a commemorative card designed by a German graphic designer, Paul Isidor Landmann, for his son, Carl’s Bar Mitzvah held on 23 September 1933. The card was designed like the label of a cigarette package to reflect the family’s business and its primary customer. The Landmann family business was eventually “Aryanized” in 1938 and the following year the family fled to England and settled in 1940 in the United States. The celebration of Bar Mitzvahs continued well into the Nazi period even with the intensification of antisemitic legislation in Germany. These traditions maintained a sense of continuity and strengthened the feeling of community among Jews.