Object ID
2019.2.113
Object Name
Postcard
Date
4-4-1941
Files
Download Full Text (7.1 MB)
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
Postcard front image of pond with fountain. Trees and white building with red roof behind.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, and the first concentration camp was established in the city of Posen at Fort VII, one of the 19th century forts surrounding the city. Within the first month the first Polish prisoners - especially the intelligentsia - were imprisoned and murdered. Fort VII was a particularly brutal facility, where executions occurred daily and the miserable living conditions conduced to disease and death. The Nazis’ first experiments with gas and gas chambers occurred at Fort VII: both staff and patients from local psychiatric facilities were gassed here. By November 1939, Posen became a Gestapo prison for Polish political prisoners. While some Jews were imprisoned here, most were transferred to the extermination centers at Belzec or Sobibor. Himmler made the decision in 1941, soon after this postcard was written, to turn Fort VII into a Gestapo prison.
Dimensions
3 5/8 x 5 1/2"
Keywords
Fort VII, Gas chambers, Posen, Heinrich Himmler
Subcollection
Concentration
Recommended Citation
"Concentration Camp Posen Fort VII: Postcard Sent to SS Guard" (1941). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.113.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1488
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.