J-Stamped Passport for Fritz Schlesinger

Authors

Object ID

2022.1.40

Object Name

Passport

Date

8-2-1939

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

32 pages; red ‘J’ stamp at top left of page 1; photo stapled on top left of page 2; interior pages have become detached from cover; pages 17-back cover have been hole punched twice;

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Fritz Schlesinger’s passport is stamped with the letter J. The handwritten “Israel” displayed on his passport to further distinguish him as a Jew was required on letters and documents in 1938 by Nazi executive order. Fritz had been a “landwirtschafat praktikant” and “agriculture intern” completing his training in farming practices and technology. Such training was commonly associated with the Halutz movement and inspired by Zionist ideology with the goal to create Jewish settlements in Palestine. Mr. Schlesinger, however, went through his training in a distinctly non-Zionist program formed by the Union of Jews in Germany (under supervision of the SS) on land at Gross-Breesen, near Trebnitz. To be sure, agricultural training was no less important here, but its inspiration was to help graduates secure jobs in any country as part of training for emigrating from Germany. While Mr. Schlesinger’s program was not specifically Zionist-inspired, it was no less urgent to help adolescents find gainful employment in countries like the UK, the Netherlands, South America and the United States. This became especially true after the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938. Indeed, almost 120 participants were able to leave Germany after Kristallnacht from Mr. Schlesinger’s program.

Fritz graduated at the end of July 1939 and applied for a British visa in Berlin on August 7. He exited Germany on the 27th and entered the UK at Harwich on August 28th. There were instructions that upon completion of his training he will emigrate from the UK.

Just days later World War II began.

Dimensions

6 1/2 x 4 1/4"

Keywords

Frtiz Schlesinger, Halutz, Kristallnacht, Israel

Subcollection

Early, Freier

Recommended Citation

"J-Stamped Passport for Fritz Schlesinger" (1939). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2022.1.40.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1887

Creative Commons License

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