The American Joint Distribution Committee as Courier post-World War II Correspondence to Palestine

Authors

Object ID

2012.1.269abc

Object Name

Envelope

Date

2-1-1946

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: Tan envelope with handwritten address to M. Reinberg. Includes bottom of address crossed out in red pen. Back flap has handwritten return address to Mozes Poehuesewski.Letter: Two page letter handwritten in pencil in Yiddish.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

In addition to its various humanitarian missions, the American Joint Distribution Committee acted as a mail carrier not only for its field workers, but also for refugees, displaced persons and other Jews in need. For the most part, this service was provided through its Paris office. Mail would be gathered at other offices and sent by courier to Paris whence it would then be sent abroad either by messenger or under cover to a local Jewish agency for distribution. A letter from a Holocaust survivor in Munich to a cousin in the Jewish Brigade, handed to an American Joint Distribution Committee worker who took it to the office where it was censored and sealed with brown tape, tied by blue AJDC large double circle hand stamp. The AJDC delivered it to the British Army post office, which could not locate him. A hand stamp dated February 19 so stated and it was returned to sender, being censored on return in Offenbach (March 22). It was readdressed to Palestine and re-mailed June 6 with a German machine mark, passing through British FPO 550 (Trieste, July 3) and FPO 233 (Jerusalem, July 12) thence to Tel Aviv.

Dimensions

a: 3 3/4 x 5 1/2"; b: 7 x 5 1/2"; c: 6 x 5 1/2"

Keywords

Palestine, AJDC, American Joint Distribution Committee, Tel Aviv, Survivor, Munich, Jewish Brigade, Censor Offenbach, Mozes Pochuczewski, Motel Reinberg

Recommended Citation

"The American Joint Distribution Committee as Courier post-World War II Correspondence to Palestine" (1946). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2012.1.269abc.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/949