Title

Postcard from New York to Sam van Perlstein

Authors

Object ID

2019.2.276

Object Name

Postcard

Date

7-22-1940

Files

Description

Postcard with green U.S. postage stamp in the top right corner, addressed to “Mr. Sam van Perlstein” in center. Back of letter typed and dated “July 22, 1940” near top.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

The sender of this postcard is discussing business prospects in America with Sam van Perlstein several months after the German occupation of the Netherlands.

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 1/4 x 5 1/3"

Keywords

Netherlands, Sam Van Perlstein

Subcollection

Netherlands

Recommended Citation

"Postcard from New York to Sam van Perlstein" (1940). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.276.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1602