Censored Postcard from Ella Stibitz in Kolin Ghetto to Mother Josefa Stibitz in Theresienstadt Ghetto

Authors

Object ID

2021.1.16

Object Name

Postcard

Date

1944

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

Postcard written in black ink with purple border design. Zensur 8 is written in red crayon on front.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Josefa was born in Bohemia in 1873, the third of nine children. Her father was a businessman. She married Vladimir Stibitz, a bank official, in 1898. Vladimir eventually became director of a factory in Kolin belonging to his brother-in-law. Josefa and Vladimir had four children. When Vladimir became ill and died, Josefa managed the factory. In frail health, Josefa was deported from Kolin to Theresienstadt in June 1942 on transport A.A.D.68 three years after Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. Here she met her siblings, who would ultimately perish in extermination centers.

Remarkably, Josefa survived Theresienstadt, having been liberated in May 1945. Three years later, in 1948, she recorded memories of her experiences at Theresienstadt. Photographs of Josefa walking with her daughters to the collection point in Kolin in 1942 prior to her being transported to Theresienstadt had been discovered as well as photographs showing her reunion with her son in 1945 after her liberation. These recordings and photographs were utilized by Nadja Seelich and Bernd Neuberger in their 1997 documentary entitled “Theresienstadt looks like a curort (resort)” about Josefa’s imprisonment in Theresienstadt and her struggle to survive.

Dimensions

5 3/4 x 4"

Keywords

Josefa Stibitz, Ella Stibitz, Theresienstadt

Subcollection

Concentration, Ghettos

Recommended Citation

"Censored Postcard from Ella Stibitz in Kolin Ghetto to Mother Josefa Stibitz in Theresienstadt Ghetto" (1944). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2021.1.16.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1718

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.