Postcard Airmail from Vienna to Palestine After Anschluss

Authors

Object ID

2016.1.19

Object Name

Postcard

Date

4-22-1938

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

Front:Typewritten page beginning with "Liebste Hedy" and ends with handwritten "Lola"; Back: Four postage stamps, two red, 2 green, two "MIT FLUGPOST POST AVION" stamps

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Austria had been annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938 - the so-called Anschluss - one month before this airmail postcard was written by Lola Feiner, living in Vienna, to her sister Hedy Finkelmann in Palestine. After the annexation, Jews were chased through the streets, compelled to wash sidewalks on their knees, humiliated and beaten. Jewish-owned businesses and residences were pillaged. Thousands of Austrians who opposed Nazi rule were sent to concentration camps. Statements of assets were required of all Jews. Germany’s Nuremberg Laws would be imposed upon the Jews of Austria. This is the political context for the postcard that Lola sends to Hedy expressing concern over the circumstances in which she is immersed, asking for financial assistance, as she has not received money from “Luschi”: “It has been three weeks now that we haven’t received anything, and you can probably imagine the situation…We don’t know what to live on.” Lola asks urgently to “send us something for maintenance by airmail or otherwise as quickly as possible…” She asks her sister not to send schillings as they would be confiscated. “Pounds arrive easily.” Assuring Hedy that she is healthy, Lola hopes that this is as well the case for her.

By May, Jews of Vienna had lost their civil liberties, and were forced to wear the yellow star. The Kristallnacht pogrom occurred in November. Synagogues were destroyed and many Jews were sent to Dachau concentration camp. Jewish owned property and assets were confiscated. Many Jews would attempt to flee to other countries.

Dimensions

4 1/8 x 5 3/4"

Keywords

Lola Feiner, Vienna, Austria, Hedy Finkelmann, Anschluss, Palestine

Subcollection

Early, Personal

Recommended Citation

"Postcard Airmail from Vienna to Palestine After Anschluss" (1938). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2016.1.19.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1279