Eyewitness Testimony from Soldier Who Witnessed the Kovno, Lithuania, Pogrom

Authors

Object ID

2014.1.298ab

Object Name

Correspondence

Date

7-5-1941

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

Envelope front: Addressed to Hernn Aloif Bock. Two stamps, one black feldpost on upper right corner, one purple in lower left corner. Blue ink, handwritten.Back: Return address written on top in blue ink with a rectangular purple stamp underneath. Letter: Handwritten in blue ink on both sides. Pencil marks underlining a good portion of the writing on the front, with some pencil symbols in the upper lefthand corner.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Holocaust documentation by a soldier who witnessed the Kovno, Lithuania, pogrom in July 1941 first-hand. Feldpost letter from FB04583, 6.Kranken-Kraftwagen-Zug Armee Sanitaets Abteilung (Army Ambulance Medic Unit 6th Detachment), a medic who bears witness to the deadly antisemitic activity of the local population. While they were clearly organized and supported by the Germans, the locals played a significant role in the massacre of the Jews. The author writes "Since the 25th of July [SIC - 25 June, the handwritten date on the letter and the feldpost cancel is July 5th] we have been in the capital of Lithuania, in Kowno. In the first days here it was a regular shooting gallery. There were thousands of Jews, including also wives and children, which were arrested by the Lithuanian Heimwehr, hauled away and shot..." The Heimwehr refers to the 'Homeland Security' force of Lithuanian locals (often ethnic Germans) recruited by the Waffen-SS to support police and partisan activities.

Dimensions

envelope: 4 1/2 x 6 1/4"; letter: 11 3/4 x 8 1/2"

Keywords

Kovno, Lithuania, Pogrom, Army, Ambulance, Medic, Unit 6th Detachment

Subcollection

Bullets

Recommended Citation

"Eyewitness Testimony from Soldier Who Witnessed the Kovno, Lithuania, Pogrom" (1941). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2014.1.298ab.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/556