Postcard from a Jewish Refugee in Germany Trapped in France en Route to England

Authors

Object ID

2015.2.63

Object Name

Postcard

Date

10-13-1939

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

Front: Tan postcard with neat blue ink cursive script vertically across the page. Some water damage on the lower left side. Back: Printed red postcard lines. Continuation of message in blue cursive ink on left side. The right side includes the address written in blue and black ink on the printed lines. Printed red stamp of a woman in classical garments holding a torch in the upper righthand corner. Black stamps across the top of the page.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Postcard sent to Dr. Martin Nathan in Tel Aviv, Palestine. Alice describes her situation calmly, with a sense of humor, but eminently realistically. She is understandably fearful, worried about the immediate future. She reports having received her Visa to England on September 1, on the outbreak of war, and left Germany on September 2nd. But she is stuck and cannot continue on her journey to England, in all probability because in wartime with a German Visa she would not be permitted to enter England as an alien of an enemy country. She reports that her stay in France is not so pleasant but that she cannot complain because the times are so serious. She is being taken care of by the local Jewish committee and has been provided with shelter. All of her belongings are in England, she thinks. Nevertheless, there is no place where she is staying to put her things. She states that no one knows what will be. She thinks that her mother was not able to escape. News from Italy arrived after Alice left. She states that an enormous sum of money is required to bring her mother to Alice, and the Committee is not able to help. She asks how Dr. Nathan is, and whether they will ever see one another again. She is afraid that this will not happen. Write me, she says, stating that she is so alone, completely dependent on the good will of strangers. One meets people who help but "there are many unpleasant matters." She concludes, "Well, we must go on. Regards to you all. Yours, Alice."

Dimensions

6 x 4"

Keywords

Palestine, Stamps, Tel Aviv, England, France, Martin Nathan, Alice

Subcollection

Early, Personal

Recommended Citation

"Postcard from a Jewish Refugee in Germany Trapped in France en Route to England" (1939). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2015.2.63.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/186