As the Einsatzgruppen continued to blaze a trail of murder through the Baltic states, Ukraine and the Soviet Union, Reinhard Heydrich officiated at the Wannsee Conference in January, 1942, where plans were discussed for the systematic extermination of all the Jews of Europe in all of the countries conquered by Germany. Entire Jewish communities were to be liquidated. Concentration camps, initially used to incarcerate political prisoners, became extermination centers for mass murder in gas chambers, especially after Heydrich’s assassination. While there were many concentration camps, the major extermination centers were Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Bergen-Belsen and Treblinka. Thus Jews were to be methodically killed with poison gas, or utilized as slave labor to be worked to death in war- related industries for the Reich.
This collection includes many examples of concentration and internment camp mail (including Romanian and Croatian camps as well as French internment camps) used during the Third Reich; several Auschwitz Briefaktion Postcards; and a program of the Bermuda Conference with a copy of a letter written by Rabbi Stephen Wise.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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British "Black Propaganda" Postcard with Robert Ley
Postcard with “Reichsleiter Dr. Robert Ley” in bold black print in center of right side with a photo of Ley in uniform, shouting, on left side, marked “(Siehe Umseitig)” in lower right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Two days after Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. In one effort to undermine the morale of both German soldiers and civilians, the British Political Warfare Executive (PWE), working with members of the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), created a Psywar propaganda arts unit. Sefton Delmer of the PWE devised this example of the “Black propaganda” arts, printed in England and often affixed with a forged 3 pfennig Hitler stamp. They were then dropped by the U.S. 8th Air Force over selected targets. Robert Ley, a garrulous liar and alcoholic, head of the German Labor Front, and militant anti-Semite who, not content with merely re-locating the Jews but rather advocated exterminating them, is accused in a “secret directive”-actually created by the PWE- of securing large quantities of food for himself and other Nazi officials, while publicly declaring that he and his colleagues used ration cards. “National Socialists know no such thing as diplomatic rations… Every man… has to live on rations,” whether an official or worker. “I myself am a normal consumer and live on them…” These allegations supposedly appeared in the October 12, 1943 edition of Goebbels’ newspaper Angriff. He appears in this earlier photo as the repugnant blowhard that he in fact was.
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Philatelic Postcard with Stamps Issued in 1943 with Special Postmark Inscription "The Fuhrer Leads, We Follow, 10th Anniversary of Coming into Power"
Postcard with three postage stamps, swastika stamped twice in round stamps marked “MÜNCHEN” in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate depicted in the stamp design was an important symbol of Nazi power. A torchlight parade through this gate marked Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor on January 30, 1933.
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Postcard to "Ingenieur" Alexander Distler in Jewish Refugee Camp 41 Ile-Aux Noix, Quebec from Carl Radlmesser in Toronto
Postcard with color image of city street, labelled “FRONT STREET, POST OFFICE, UNION DEPOT AND ROYAL HOTEL, TORONTO, CAN.” Back has two green postage stamps in upper right corner. [Related items 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Alexander Distler, had been sent to an internment camp in Canada. At some point after 1940 the name of Camp “I” was changed to Camp 41, on Ile-aux-Noix, an island in Quebec. Distler is referred to in this 1943 postcard as an Engineer. As well his name has been anglicized. Distler may have known Radlmesser from Austria.
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Correspondence from Montreal to Alexander Distler in Refugee Camp 41, Isle-aux-Noix, Quebec
a: Envelope with address “Mr. A Distler, Refugee Camp 41, Isle aux Noix, St Paul, Que.” Written in blue, includes red postage stamp, stamped in black with “MONTREAL FEB 26 11 PM 1943.” b: Letter with writing on front and back, “Dear Mr. Distler:” written in top left corner. [Related items 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Cancelled in Montreal February 26, 1943, Canadian hand stamp censor marks ( Commission for Refugee Camps censored refugee mail circular C.R.C. and numbered handstamp) on cover and on letter, and Isle-aux-Noix censor mark cover verso. Distler receives this letter written in English while continuing to reside at the Isle-aux-Noix camp for “illegal aliens” in Canada. The camp closed the end of December 1943.
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German Cover Commemorating 20th Anniversary of Munich "Putsch" with Inscription "UND IHR HABT DOCH GESIEGT" [And Despite All, You Were Victorious]
Green envelope, red postage stamp with swastika in top right corner, addressed to “Herrn Dietrich Ott.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:A member of the Hitler Youth, dressed in uniform, is holding the flag as though to rally the party and the troops. The postmark was used only for November 9, 1943 and reads “Munich, Capital of the Movement.”
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U.S. Army Air Force Aerial Photo of Dachau Concentration Camp From Photo Recon Airman
Black and white photo of camp [similar to 2019.2.97], labeled "DACHAU ORD. DEP. & CONCENTRATION CAMP" in red on the back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
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Theresienstadt Package Receipt Acknowledgement Three Days After Swiss Red Cross Visit
Orange postcard marked "POSTKARTE," brown postage stamp of Hitler in top right corner, "11b" stamped in blue on left side, "Theresienstadt" written on left side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Theresienstadt, Hitler’s so-called “gift to the Jews,” was subject to a Nazi effort to sanitize the ghetto in advance of a visit by the Swiss Red Cross on June 23, 1944. The Verschonerung , or embellishment program, emerged out of Denmark’s pressure on the Nazis, since 466 Danish Jews were sent to this ghetto, the Danish government wanted to ensure that they were being treated humanely and living under suitable conditions. Indeed, the two Swiss Red Cross representatives were to be accompanied by two representatives of the Danish government. The Nazis used the occasion to create propaganda in presenting the ghetto in a favorable light. To impress the delegates, and create the appearance of a functioning village life for the Jews, shops were opened, including a café and a bank; camp “money” (scrip useless anywhere else) was printed and distributed for Jewish labor to purchase items at the shops. This general beautification ruse included cultural events that lasted for one week: soccer games were arranged, orchestral and operatic productions were held, parks were opened, a playground was created for the ghetto children, and jazz played in the town square pavilion. Of course, the massively overcrowded conditions had to be relieved in advance of the visit, so 17,517 Jews were transported to Auschwitz.
After the Red Cross visit and the subsequent glowing report that was to emerge, the transports to Auschwitz- which had ceased for a time- resumed again in the fall.
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Postcard from Theresienstadt Ghetto Used by Elizabeth Rosa Ornstein
Postcard marked Postcard marked "POSTKARTE" in black, vertical line down center of postcard, brown postage stamp of Adolf Hitler in top right corner, stamped with "11b" in blue ink on left side, back marked "Theresienstadt, am 29/7 1944" in top right corner.
[Related items: 2015.2.54 and 2019.2.80]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This acknowledgement of receipt of a parcel was signed by Elizabeth Ornstein, an Austrian Jew who was transported to Terezin in March 1944. Several months later, on October 6, 1944, she was transported to Auschwitz where she was murdered. She was 48 years old.
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Theresienstadt Package Receipt Acknowledgement to Vienna from Paul Ornstein
Postcard with vertical line in center of postcard, stamped with "11b" in blue ink on left side, two brown postage stamps of Adolf Hitler in top right corner that are placed horizontally and crossed out with pencil, back marked "Theresienstadt, am 9/9 1944" in top right corner.
[Related items: 2015.2.54 and 2019.2.78]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Mr. Ornstein was originally from Vienna, and just days after writing this postcard on September 29, 1944, he was transported to Auschwitz, where he was eventually murdered. His wife, Elisabeth Rosa Ornstein, had already been transported to Auschwitz on June 10, 1944, where she too was murdered.
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German Cover Commemorating 21st Anniversary of the Munich Uprising
Green envelope, includes white and red postage stamp of eagle and two snakes, writing in pencil
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The inscription reads “Remember the 9th of November 1923.” The eagle, representing Germany, is doing battle with the three major co-signatories- Great Britain, France, and the United States- of the Versailles Treaty in June 1919. The tide had clearly turned against Germany by the end of 1944. To manage shortage of manpower, Hitler had ordered the creation of the Volkssturm in October: all males between 16 and 60 years of age were required to participate in the war effort.
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Krakau (Cracow) Ghetto Postcard
Postcard marked "POSTKARTE" in purple, vertical line in center of postcard, purple postage stamp of Adolf Hitler in top right corner, "KRAKAU" stamped in black ink over postage stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Rare postcard from a physician in the Ghetto established in Cracow, Poland with “JUDENRAT KRAKOW” stamp.
Cracow had been a thriving center of Jewish life and learning since the Middle Ages. More than 68,000 Jews were living there when the Germans occupied it in September 1939. Under the orders of Hans Frank, the Governor of the occupied territories, most of the Jews of Cracow were resettled in 1940, with only 15,000 remaining in the city. The Ghetto was established in 1941 in the Podgorze district. In May 1942, Jews able to work were systematically deported to Paszow, the slave labor camp administered by the notorious Amon Goeth. The rest were deported to extermination centers of Belzec or Auschwitz. Some 2,000 Jews were murdered in the streets of the Ghetto.
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Cover from Lubben to Marienbad, with Stamp Commemorating Home Guard (Volkssturm) Mobilization
Envelope with red postage stamp in upper right corner beside white postage stamp with “5,00” in red print, stamped with 11a in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This cover was mailed 17 days after the stamp was issued to honor Hitler’s order to call up of all males between 16 and 60 to fight along with the Wehrmacht in defense of Germany. The war was to end for Germany in just a few months.
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Gruss aus Karlsbad! [Greetings from Karlsbad!]: German Anti-Semitic Postcard
Front: An illustration of seven caricaturized figures holding hands and dancing in a semi-circle. Back: Titled 'Corespondenz - Karte.' Includes a green border design, an orange postage stamp in the upper-right corner, and two hand stamps.
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"und die Rechte soll night wissen was die Linke tut" [The Right Shall Not Know What the Left Hand Is Doing] Postcard
Front: An anti-semitic illustration of a short, bald man in a suit carrying a cross in his right hand while accepting money in his left from a figure labeled "Jüdisch-Französischen? Kapital" [French Jew? Capital]. Back: Blank postcard lines.
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PHOTOGRAPHIC POSTCARD OF CHURCH AT ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE
Front: A photograph of demolished church interior with infant carriages. Back: Titled 'Carte Postale; Editee par l'Association Nationale des Familles des Martyrs d'Oradour-Sur-Glane [Published by the National Association of Families of Martyrs of Oradour-sur-Glane].'
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Oradour-sur-Glane was a small farming village of around 350 inhabitants, located approximately15 miles from Limoges. During World War II, it was located in the German-occupied zone of France. On June 10, 1944, troops of the 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Division Das Reich, massacred 642 people, almost the entire population of the village at that time, including a number of Jewish refugees. More than 450 women and children were locked in this church by the Nazis, while the men were locked in barns and sheds. The Nazis detonated an incendiary device in the church; anyone attempting to escape was machine-gunned. The men were shot in the legs; no longer able to move, their bodies were covered with gasoline and the barns were set ablaze. The village of Oradour was partially razed that night. After the war, Oradour-sur-Glane rivaled Lidice as an iconic symbol of German crimes against civilians in occupied Europe. The ruins of the original village remain as a memorial to the dead.
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Censored, Not Permitted Postcard from Abraham Schiller to Markus Schiller in Yiddish
Front: A 'Karte Pocztowa.' Includes a letter written in Yiddish with red handstamp, "Hebräische Schrift nicht zulässig" [Hebrew writing not allowed], black postal stamp and black Reich mailing stamp with the Reichsadler. Back: Continuation of Yiddish letter. Further information: A postcard sent from Occupied Poland on Rosh Hashana Eve by Abraham Schiller. It was censored due to the Yiddish writing.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: German writing only. Postcard sent from Occupied Poland, Yiddish text written on Rosh Hashana Eve by Abraham Schiller. Card was not posted due to 3 line red cachet in German 'Hebrew writing not allowed' on front and reverse, address hand crossed in red crayon.
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Men Assembled in Preparation for Execution
Front: Greyed black and white photograph of cold, underdressed men huddled together in a group. Barracks in the background.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An especially rare and graphic candid photograph with deckled edges. A large group of men, herded together, almost all bearded, clearly not dressed for the cold weather and a few bare-footed, facing forward. Various barracks-like structures lie several hundred yards behind them. Such photos were strictly forbidden by the Nazis, yet clearly taken by one of them.
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Zyklon B Cannister Label
Front: Tan paper with text in black, white and red. Includes skull and crossbones in upper left corner, a red shield with white design in lower left, and a black circular hand stamp on right edge. Zyklon B was a pesticide used in Nazi death camps to exterminate Jews through vaporizing pellets in shower chambers.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A hydrogen cyanide product produced by Degesch, Zyklon B had originally been used as a pesticide. By summer of 1941, the Nazis were experimenting with it on Soviet POWs, and discovered that the vaporizing pellets were an effective means of gassing Jews. Degesch was a subsidiary of I.G. Farben, which, along with Tesch and Stabenow, profited by supplying the SS with Zyklon B. By pouring the pellets through rooftop openings on the gas chambers, thus exposing them to air, a lethal gas was produced as an effective means to murder the victims. Nazis murdered more than one million Jews in gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Majdanek. Bruno Tesch, who developed the form of this product for use in canisters, was executed after the war for advising the SS on Zyklon-B's use on humans.
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Postcard from Reszow. Lvov District, Poland
Front: Tan paper with black printed text and dotted lines, filled in with blue cursive ink. Includes purple and black hand stamps on the top, and a long red line through the card. Back: Printed black postcard lines and address. Includes blue writing on lefthand side, as well as purple, black and red hand stamps, a purple pasted stamp of Hitler in profile on top right, and pencil markings on the bottom of the page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: RELICO card to Geneva, General Gouvernement 30 pfg tied Rzeszow cds, bearing small boxed Judenrat eichshof along with Nazi censor. Rzeszow's Jews maintained prominence in the cultural and economic life of the city for more than 400 years. They were buisnessmen and artisans, with a growing population into the twentieth century. With the German occupation in 1939, Jewish property was expropriated, evictions from apartments and homes occurred, businesses "Aryanised." A Judenrat was organied, many more refugees from Western Poland arrived, forced labor occurred, and with the establishment of the ghetto in 1942, many thousands of Jews were murdered in the ghetto, along with the deportations that occurred to the Belzec death camp.
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Aftermath of Execution
Greyed black and white photograph of a mass grave. Dead bodies in the ground, a line of soldiers in dark colors stand above it. Barracks in the background.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An especially rare and graphic candid photograph with deckled edges. Fifteen soldiers in greatcoats are marching along the edge of a pit as an officer looks down upon the bodies of the newly-killed prisoners and as another soldier in the pit appears to administer a coup de grace to a dying man with an uplifted arm. Such photos were strictly forbidden by the Nazis, yet clearly taken by one of them.
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Envelope from Krakau Ghetto
Front: Green envelope with typewritten address. Includes several purple and black hand stamps, some writing in pencil, and a pasted brown stamp depicting a buildling in upper right corner.Back: Address written in black cursive ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Envelope franked General Gouvernement 6 pfg. tied Krakau cds, from Zydowska Samopomoc Spoleczna (Jewish Self-Help Society) in Kraku Ghetto to Rada Zydowska (Jewish Aid Society) in Wadlew, Poland. One of the five major metropolitan ghettos in the General Government territory created by the Nazis, Krakau was surrounded by barbed wire and brick walls shaped as tombstones. 18,000 Jews were forced to live in execrable sanitary conditions in an area of just 600 by 400 meters. Krakau was ultimately liquidated between June 1942 and March 1943. The Jews of Krakau were sent to nearby Plaszow slave labor camp (commanded by the infamous Amon Goeth) if deemed capable of working, slaughtered in the streets by police auxiliaries, or deported to Belzec or Auschwitz.
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Postcard from Belzyce Ghetto
Front: Tan postcard with message written in purple pencil.Back: Printed postcard lines in brown with writing in pencil. Includes black and purple hand stamps, a green pasted stamp of a man in profile facing left, and a red arrow.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Polish postcard bearing scarce small boxed BELZYCE alongside of German franking, addressed in pencil to Berlin. Belzyce, a small town in the province of Lublin, Poland, was overcome by Germany in September, 1939. A ghetto was established 1940 which housed Jews from Belzyce as well as other towns in Poland. The liquidation of the ghetto began in earnest in the spring of 1942. 3000 Jews were exterminated at Sobibor. The residents of the small concentration camp established in Belzyce were liquidated in May, 1943. Women and children were shot, and others were sent to Benzin, where only a few survived.
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Niederschrift [Oath of Office] Signed by Marianne Tuerk
Tan paper with two hole punches on the left side and printed text in German. Includes printed Nazi seal on top, as well as several pencil signatures and purple hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Marianne Tuerk was a medical doctor who had been imprisoned for murdering children at Kinderspital Am Spiegelgrund, the children's clinic in Vienna, as part of the Nazi Euthenasia program known as Action T4, headed by Philipp Bouhler. Among with Margarethe Heubsche and Ernst Illing, the head of the "clinic," she claimed that the murders were ordered from Berlin to "purify and improve the physical standards of the German race." These children were designated as Lebensunwertes Leben, Life Unworthy of Life, and were thus targeted for "euthanasia." Overdoses of Luminol, Veronal and Morphine were administered to children with mental and physical diseases and disabilities, or were considered "inferior" according to Nazi racial policy. Over seven hundred children perished at Spiegelgrund, one of 30 Nazi institutes where physically and mentally handicapped people were killed as part of the T4 program. In most cases cause of death was cited as pneumonia, or muscle problems. Brains and other body parts were collected and placed in jars of formaldehyde. Dr. Tuerk was imprisoned for ten years after the war. Illing was hanged. [This document is] An Oath of Office (Niederschrift) signed by Tuerk, in which she pledges her fidelity and obedience to Hitler and the German empire, and to fulfill her duties conscientiously.
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Sterilization Procedure Leaflet
Front: White paper with a graphic black, white, and red illustration of the body being opened with medical instruments performing a sterilization procedure. Includes dotted lines pointing to certain parts of the body with descriptions at the end of them. Includes red and purple hand stamps, black printed text, and Tuerk's signature in black at the bottom.Back: Another graphic black, white, and red illustration of the body being opened with medical instruments performing a sterilization procedure. Includes dotted lines pointing to certain parts of the body with descriptions at the end of them. Includes printed text at the bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Marianne Tuerk was a medical doctor who had been imprisoned for murdering children at Kinderspital Am Spiegelgrund, the children's clinic in Vienna, as part of the Nazi Euthenasia program known as Action T4, headed by Philipp Bouhler. Among with Margarethe Heubsche and Ernst Illing, the head of the "clinic," she claimed that the murders were ordered from Berlin to "purify and improve the physical standards of the German race." These children were designated as Lebensunwertes Leben, Life Unworthy of Life, and were thus targeted for "euthanasia." Overdoses of Luminol, Veronal and Morphine were administered to children with mental and physical diseases and disabilities, or were considered "inferior" according to Nazi racial policy. Over seven hundred children perished at Spiegelgrund, one of 30 Nazi institutes where physically and mentally handicapped people were killed as part of the T4 program. In most cases cause of death was cited as pneumonia, or muscle problems. Brains and other body parts were collected and placed in jars of formaldehyde. Dr. Tuerk was imprisoned for ten years after the war. Illing was hanged. [This document is a] Leaflet signed by Tuerk pertaining to the sterilization procedure.
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Envelope from "Israel"
Blueish white envelope. Address written in blue cursive ink. Two pasted stamps in upper right: pink stamp with man in profile facing left, and blue stamp with Hitler's profile facing right. Black circular handstamp between them. Pasted Mit Luftpost stamp in upper left. Ink and pencil writing in bottom left, water damaged. Back: Address written in blue cursive ink on flap. White censor tape with black Nazi eagle circular emblem upside down on bottom. Red stamp of alternating circles with Nazi eagle and horizontal lines across censor tape.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israel Cover