Signboard

The board advertised one of the most popular products of the Jakob Haberfeld Steam Vodka and Liquor Factory - Zamkowka vodka. The factory functioned between 1804 and 1939 in Oświęcim. The factory, run by the Haberfeld Jewish family, was one of the oldest alcohol-producing enterprises in the country. The Haberfelds were among the most influential families in Oświęcim. In 1804, the factory produced more than 40 types of various vodkas, liqueurs, rums, whiskeys and starches. The specialties were: Zamkowa, Zgoda, Czysta, Basztówka and Wiśniówka. During the First World War, Kaizerschutze (Imperial Rifleman) was part of the equipment of every Austrian soldier. In addition to spirits production, the company ran a bottling plant for beers such as Okocim, Żywiec and Osiek. Additionally, the family owned a chocolate and sugar factory in Bielsko-Biała (since 1884). The Steam Vodka and Liquor Factory, Alfons Haberfeld, was a shareholder in the first Polish car factory Oświęcim-Praga.In August 1939. Alfons Haberfeld and his wife Felicja promoted their products as part of the Polish pavilion at the World Exhibition in New York. On their way back to Poland, at the outbreak of World War II, the ship they were returning to Poland was stopped and diverted to Scotland. They never returned to German-occupied Poland. Their five-year-old daughter, Franciszka Henryka, died in the Bełżec death camp. In 1952 Alfons and Felicja, together with twelve other Holocaust survivors, founded the 1939 Club in Los Angeles. They died in Los Angeles, Alfons in 1970 and Felicja in 2010. In 1939 the Haberfeld factory was taken over by the Germans, and, in 1945, it was nationalised. After 1989, the existing bottling plants went bankrupt. The company was reactivated in June 2019 in close cooperation with the Nissenbaum Family Foundation. The Jakob Haberfeld Vodka Museum in Oświęcim was opened on the factory site.The presented object is a rectangular advertising board made of sheet metal with a colourful print, additionally emphasised by embossing (the elements covered by the print are convex). In the centre, a representation of a brown bottle with an écru-coloured label and an inscription (the producer's full name) in black and gold is printed against the celadon background. In the bottom right corner, the name of the producer of the plate is printed.

Marta Frączkiewicz