Letter from William Feuer in Lwow, Poland to Samuel Wasserman in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Authors

Object ID

2012.1.358abc

Object Name

Correspondence

Date

3-8-1938

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

Envelope: Tan envelope addressed in green to Sam Wasserman, Brooklyn, New York. Includes return address on back flap to S. Feller.Letter: Letter in green ink written in English on lined paper.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Letter written in English four days before the Anschluss - the Nazi Germany assimilation of Austria into the Reich; eight months before the pogroms of Kristallnacht; 17 months before the non-aggression pact signed between Germany and the Soviet Union; and a week later the German invasion of Poland, the commencement of World War II, and the overrunning of the city of Lwow, the third largest population of Jews in Poland. The series of horrific pogroms against the Jews whose population swelled with Jews fleeing Western Poland before the pact between Germany and the Soviets was to take effect, commenced one month later. After the war there were less than 1000 Jews that survived the Holocaust in Lwow out of a population of more than 150,000 Jews before the war. Mr. Feuer - possibly an immigrant from Poland himself - is abroad visiting family - probably his sister and other family and friends - and after some introductory statements offers a Jewish foreigner’s perspective on the atmosphere in Lwow on the eve of the Holocaust:

“Well, Sam how times are here it is impossible for me to explain so much. The Heb has no chance if they have potatoes they eat if not they starve. All Hebs that have a little stars just to earn their bread and butter so one week the windows are broken, the next thing they do is just like they do on a strike in New York (don’t buy it’s a strike) the same thing they do here, they stay in front of the store and say (don’t give the Jews a show). Edibles are very dear, a bath I didn’t take yet, an orange I didn’t taste one since I’m here, meat is very dear and my sister keeps a Jewish home and if I want some I go into a kosher restaurant with a HECHSHER (certification that something is kosher or obeying the laws of kashrut) with a cross. I expect to leave as soon as it will get warm, whether I will make it or not I do not know. I know one thing. I’ll take all the chances in the world…I’m sorry I left N.Y. because it is a hard job to get out of this country. I’ll have to do a little travelling by hook or crook. I’ll try to do it.”

Mr. Feuer leaves Sam his address in Lwow. Not long after this letter was written to Brooklyn, the Jews of Lwow would succumb to the Russians, Germans and Ukrainian Nationalists.

Dimensions

a: 3 1/4 x 5 1/4"; b: 6 1/2 x 10"; c: 6 1/2 x 5 1/4"

Keywords

Stamp, Austria, German takeover, Brooklyn, New York, Poland, Sam Wasserman, S. Feller

Subcollection

Early

Recommended Citation

"Letter from William Feuer in Lwow, Poland to Samuel Wasserman in Brooklyn, N.Y." (1938). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2012.1.358abc.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1047