Real-Photo Postcard of Christmas Gathering of Wehrmacht Soldiers

Authors

Object ID

2016.1.13

Object Name

Postcard, Picture

Date

1943

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

Many men in uniform seated at tables, one standing at head of table

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Heinrich Himmler gave an infamous speech on October 4, 1943 in the town hall of Posen (Paznan in Polish) before 92 SS officers and group leaders. He extols the murder and ultimate extermination of the Jews and the Jewish race. Enjoining the men gathered in the room to not speak of this genocide, Himmler nevertheless sees exterminating the Jews as the Nazis' necessary historical mission, with no place for mercy or sentiment. Moreover, Himmler sees this as a "glorious chapter" in German history "which has never been written and shall never be written." Eventually segueing to the stickier issue of murdering Jewish children and women, he is clear that he does not want them to become avengers: a "difficult decision had to be made to have this people disappear from the earth." Himmler, who sees himself as the "political instrument to the Fuhrer", expects that the Jewish Question in its totality would be resolved by year's end. "We must be," he insists, "as SS men honest, decent and loyal to members of our own blood, and to no one else."

Dimensions

3 1/2 x 5 1/2"

Keywords

Heinrich Himmler, Posen, Poznan, Jewish Question, Extermination, Wehrmacht, Soldiers

Subcollection

Concentration

Recommended Citation

"Real-Photo Postcard of Christmas Gathering of Wehrmacht Soldiers" (1943). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2016.1.13.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1273