SS - Standaardleider and Security Police Commander Wilhelm Harster Bans Publication and Circulation of Jewish Books

Authors

Object ID

2019.2.3

Object Name

Document, Government

Date

11-8-1941

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

Tan paper, black print, stamp in black ink at top, "203/205" written in blue in top right corner, back of letter includes three underlined rows and pink writing

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

In this memo, Wilhelm Harster has prohibited the publication and circulation of several noteworthy Jewish books including Lessing’s Nathan the Wise and Dr. H. Brugman and Dr. A. Frank’s Die Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland (The History of the Jews in the Netherlands). Confiscation of these materials is imperative. The letter refers to measures that will be taken by the Security Police if there are violations of this order. Wilhelm Harster, by training a lawyer, was a high-ranking member of the SS, and Commander of the Security Police and Security Service in the Netherlands from 1940-1943. He worked closely with Hans Rauter, Highest SS and Police Leader in the Netherlands, reporting to both Himmler and Seyss-Inquart, who was the Nazi governor in the Netherlands during the German occupation. Harster was considered partially responsible for the deportation to extermination centers of over 100,000 Dutch Jews of the 140,000 living in the Netherlands. He was also held responsible for his role in the abuses and murder of inmates at the Amersfoort Concentration Camp in the central Netherlands.

Dimensions

11 1/2 x 8"

Keywords

Wilhelm Harster, Amersfoort

Subcollection

Netherlands

Recommended Citation

"SS - Standaardleider and Security Police Commander Wilhelm Harster Bans Publication and Circulation of Jewish Books" (1941). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.3.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1407