Object ID
2015.2.105
Object Name
Postcard
Date
3-25-1944
Files
Download Full Text (1.1 MB)
Description
Front: Tan postcard with message written in pencil. Back: Black printed postcard lines with pencil writing and a pasted stamp of Hitler in profile in upper right corner. Includes a purple hand stamp in bottom left corner, and a black hand stamp in the middle.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of four cards (2015.2.105 -.108) with Deutsches Reich franking on card from Birkenau to Prague, bearing 5 line "Rukanwort nur auf Postkarten in deutscher Sprach uber die Reichvereiningung der Juden in Detuschland..." 1944. Briefaktion or Operation Mail was a deliberate Nazi effort to spread disinformation regarding the welfare of selected prisoners, and thus quell the growing concern about their fate, and especially the rumors that they were being murdered. The victims of this charade were required to write postcards reporting that “resettlement” was going fine and that they were doing well and in good health. Nor were they incorporated officially into the Auschwitz camp system since they were not given standard prisoner numbers; rather, soon after the postcards were collected for mailing, the unsuspecting victims were murdered. What distinguishes these cards are the following: 1. The same return address of Arbeitslager Birkenau, bei Neu-Berun, Oberschlesien. 2. The mail was taken for processing to Berlin. 3. Cachets were stamped on the correspondence indicating that replies were permitted only through the Association of Jews in Berlin, Germany. 4. The postmark read Berlin-Charlottenburg 2.
Dimensions
4 x 6"
Keywords
Stamp, Briefaktion, Operation Mail, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Prague, Arbeitslager Birkenau, bei Neu-Berun, Oberschlesien, Association of Jews in Berlin, Charlottenburg, Salus Kare, Eva Roubicek
Subcollection
Briefaktion
Recommended Citation
"Briefaktion (Operation Mail) Postcard, Auschwitz" (1944). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2015.2.105.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/194
![Briefaktion (Operation Mail) Postcard, Auschwitz](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1193/thumbnail.jpg)