Title

Censored Postcards to a German-Jewish Refugee, Dr. Gerhard Kohn, Living in Amsterdam on Gaaspstraat 67, from a Relative in Berlin

Authors

Object ID

2021.1.28ab

Object Name

Postcards

Date

1942

Files

Description

Handwritten postcards stamped four times including a stamp in the upper right hand corner depicting Adolf Hitler

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

During the 1930s many German Jewish refugees fled to the Netherlands to escape the Nazis. Dr. Kohn resided in an area of the city near the Amstel - the so-called Rivierenbuurt - that housed many German Jewish refugees, including the family of Anne Frank, who lived on Merwedeplein before going into hiding on Prinsengracht 263. By the time these postcards were written in June 1942, Jews in the Netherlands were already subject to a relentless rollout of regulations and measures issued by the Germans every month. They were required to wear the Star of David. They were concentrated in Amsterdam itself. There was a ban on all Jewish magazines apart from the Joodsche Raad’s Het Joodsche Weekblad, the official channel for anti-Jewish measures handed down by the Nazi occupiers. Jewish children were only allowed to attend Jewish schools. The playground on Gaaspstraat, Dr. Kohn’s street, was off limits to Jewish children. Jews were forbidden from visiting parks, zoos, cafes, and restaurants; and hotels, theatres, cabarets were off limits as were sports facilities, concerts, public libraries, and museums.

As of April 1941, all Dutch nationals aged fourteen and older were required to have an identity card. For Jews, the identity card was also printed on the front and back with a large black J.

Of the 17,000 Jews living in the Rivierenbuurt area of Amsterdam, 13,000 would not survive the war.

A statue of Anne Frank stands in the Merwedeplein park.

Dr. Kohn’s fate is uncertain.

Dimensions

4 x 5 3/4"

Keywords

Amsterdam-South, Rivierenbuurt, Joodsche Weekblad, Anne Frank

Subcollection

Netherlands

Recommended Citation

"Censored Postcards to a German-Jewish Refugee, Dr. Gerhard Kohn, Living in Amsterdam on Gaaspstraat 67, from a Relative in Berlin" (1942). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2021.1.28ab.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1730