Feldpost Card of Gorlice, Poland, from Member of Reserve Police Battalion 45, Involved in Babi Yar Massacre

Authors

Object ID

2019.2.114

Object Name

Postcard

Date

6-8-1941

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

Greyscale postcard image of a street in Gorlice with some blue ink handwriting on the front as well as the back

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Postcard from member of the infamous Police Battalion 45, commanded by Martin Besser, which, three months after this card was written, would assist Friedrich Jeckeln, Paul Blobel, (Sonderkommando 4a), and Otto Rasch (Einsatzgruppe C) in the mass murder of more than 33,000 Jews over the course of two days in a Kiev ravine. The battalion massacred men, women, and children in other towns as well, including Vinnitsa, Berdichev, and Shepetovka.

The writer of this postcard reports that he “has happily landed in Gorlice. It is swarming with Jews, which you can recognize by their armbands.” He mentions cryptically that his unit will probably immediately go on “vacation.”

Dimensions

3 5/8 x 5 1/2"

Keywords

Police Battalion 45, Babi Yar, Vinnitsa, Berdichev, Shepetovka

Subcollection

Bullets

Recommended Citation

"Feldpost Card of Gorlice, Poland, from Member of Reserve Police Battalion 45, Involved in Babi Yar Massacre" (1941). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.114.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1489