Object ID
2019.2.275
Object Name
Postcard
Date
6-7-1941
Files
Download Full Text (581 KB)
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 with large blue illustration along top titled “BILHETE POSTAL,” addressed to “Frau Sara van Perlstein.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
For Jews attempting to flee occupied Europe and the grip of the Nazi menace, Portugal could be a relatively safe harbor. The Salazar government struggled to maintain a semblance of neutrality, continuing a friendly relationship with Britain despite increasing pressure from Germany, and this permitted thousands of Jews to reach Lisbon. While Salazar would eventually tighten requirements for immigration, his diplomat in Vichy France, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, heroically carried on issuing large numbers of visas to Jews, as a consequence of which he would be recalled. Portugal would eventually increase the number of entry visas it granted to Jews as the tide of war turned against the Nazis. Once having arrived in Lisbon, refugees would then be able to seek the assistance of a number of agencies and organizations who could help them emigrate to South America or the United States.
The van Perlsteins were a prosperous family living in a vibrant Jewish community in pre-war Amsterdam whose lives were irrevocably changed under the German occupation. Philip Samuel (Sam) van Perlstein, had been an importer of Orientalia before expanding into other areas of profitability such as board games; his company, van Perlstein and Roeper Bosch, held the first license in the Netherlands to sell Monopoly. A copy of the stock market game Beursspel is displayed at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam; Peter van Pels had received it as a 16th birthday present, four months after going into hiding with the Franks.
Sam van Perlstein had understood early the plight of the Jews of Holland. He and his son Gerard van Perlstein assisted in setting up a resistance network. They were able to establish a relationship with Werner Klemke, a German Wehrmacht soldier and talented artist who despised Nazism. Klemke risked his life forging documents for Dutch Jews - identity cards, baptismal and birth certificates, etc. - which enabled some Jews to leave Holland and others to go into hiding. Klemke’s documents ultimately saved the lives of many Jews during the occupation.
While Sam and Gerard survived the war, others in his family were less fortunate. Sam’s brother Herman was murdered in Auschwitz in November 1942. He had been a prominent member of the Amsterdam rowing club. Sam’s uncle Bernard, whom Sam was able to help establish a business trading yeast when his own business failed in the Great Depression, was to be arrested for not wearing his Jewish star, and subsequently deported to Vught concentration camp and ultimately Auschwitz where he perished in January 1944. Siegfried Herman van Perlstein, a prominent lawyer and prosecutor, also perished at Auschwitz in January 1943. And Sam’s mother, Sara van Perlstein-Hecht, who resided at 160 Van Breestraat in Amsterdam, took her own life in March 1943.
[Related items: 2019.2.273-.278]
Dimensions
3 1/2 x 5 1/2"
Keywords
Netherlands, Sara Van Perlstein, Salazar, Lisbon, Portugal, Jewish Refugees
Subcollection
Netherlands
Recommended Citation
"Censored Postcard from Lisbon, Portugal to Sara van Perlstein in Amsterdam, Netherlands" (1941). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.275.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1601
Rights Statement
