Briefaktion (Operation Mail) Postcards, Auschwitz

Authors

Object ID

2015.2.108

Object Name

Postcard

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 message written in purple pencil. Back: Black printed postcard lines with writing in purple pencil. Includes a purple hand stamp on bottom left, and several black hand stamps on top right, and a pasted purple stamp of Hitler in profile at the top right.

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. Among the many deceptions used by the Nazis to deflect rumors and reports regarding liquidation of Jews, Operation Mail or Briekaktion was utlized in Auschwitz. The victims were required to write postcards home indicating that they were in good health and that "resettlement" was fine. They were typically not registered or not given prisoner numbers. 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 1/4 x 6"

Keywords

Stamp, Briefaktion, Operation Mail, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Prague, Arbeitslager Birkenau, bei Neu-Berun, Oberschlesien, Association of Jews in Berlin, Charlottenburg, Bozena Pavlovska, Werner Bernhad

Subcollection

Briefaktion

Recommended Citation

"Briefaktion (Operation Mail) Postcards, Auschwitz" (2015). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2015.2.108.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/197

Creative Commons License

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