The Holocaust (1933-45) refers to Nazi Germany’s deliberate, progressive persecution and systematic murder of the Jews of Europe. Nazi anti-Semitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body politic, and the cause of Germany’s problems—its economic woes, its defeat in World War I, its cultural degeneracy—and thus must be eradicated. As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazis commenced the organized persecution of the Jews. Jewish books were burned and businesses boycotted. Jews were excluded from professions, public life, and from the arts. The Nuremberg laws of 1935 identified and defined a Jew based on immutable racial characteristics and lineage, less so his religion. Jews were stripped of their civil rights as German citizens. More than 120 decrees and ordinances were enacted subsequent to the Nuremberg laws. In 1938, Kristallnacht occurred, the planned pogrom that led to the destruction of synagogues, mass arrests, and the looting of Jewish businesses. Jews were murdered, and many more were interned in concentration camps that had been established for political prisoners. Jewish property was registered, confiscated, and ultimately arianized. Life in Nazi Germany was sufficiently intolerable that more than to 200,000 Jews emigrated. Hitler’s goal of making Germany “Judenrein” was proving successful.
With the Nazi’s ascension to power, other groups were imperiled as well, vulnerable to discriminatory treatment, persecution and death; for example, the Roma and Sinti, the developmentally and physically disabled, homosexuals, and political and social "undesirables". Slavic people were considered Untermenschen, fit only for servitude in the new and expanded Reich. During this period of time, in direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was also secretly building its military and preparing for an eventual war. Yet it was the Nazi’s growing confidence and skill in pruning the Aryan tree of its undesirables that allowed it to perfect the technical apparatus for carrying out mass murder on an industrial scale, with its ultimate goal the “final solution to the Jewish question”.
This collection features numerous examples of identification documents for Jews used during the Third Reich; a selection of mail covers and Francotyp cards which record the mail history of Jewish-owned companies or corporate entities both before and subsequent to arianization during the era of the Third Reich; Julius Streicher anti-Semitic literature, posters from der Sturmer; and a general selection of anti-Semitic literature and postcards--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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International Brigades Censored Envelope from Valencia to Czechoslovakia
2014.1.293
Front: Two red stamps with image of man in profile on right side; worth 25 cts. A circular black stamp covers them. The return address is printed with a purple oval censorship stamp over it. Address is typewritten. Back: Tan tape on the top with a oval purple censorship stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Communists, socialists, and anarchists from many nations converged to support the Republican forces in the fight against the Fascist Franco Nationalist army. This International Brigades Cover has the "Communicaciones" censor of the Brigades.
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Press Photograph:Witnessing Kristallnacht in Berlin
2014.1.52
Front: An image of ransacked Jewish-owned stores in Berlin. Verso: Typewritten information about the image. Back: "Most Important News Pictures of '38"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Acme wire photo with following information verso:" A street scene in Berlin showing the shattered fronts of Jewish-owned stores, the result of anti-Jewish demonstrations following the slaying of Ernst vom Rath in Germany's Paris embassy. Vom Rath's slayer was a Jewish youth. 12-13-1938." The image seems to capture a range of moods of the onlookers, from incredulity to exultation to disengagement.
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Helga Kreiner of First Kindertransport Arrives in Harwich, England
2014.1.43
Front: An image of a girl in an overcoat clutching a doll. Back: Typewritten information about the image.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Helga Kreiner is pictured having arrived in Harwich, England , a member of the first Kindertransport of refugee children escaping the Nazi menace against Jews in Germany. Clutching her doll to her chest, holding her bag by her side, she stands anxiously awaiting her future in a foreign land without her parents whose own fate she could not know.
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Jewish Refugees at British Holiday Camp
2014.1.47
Front: An image of a woman in a kerchief alongside children and adolescants in front of row houses.Back: Typewritten, handwritten, and stamped information pertaining to the photograph.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Acme wire photo with following information verso: "Jewish refugees from Germany, temporarily staying at the holiday camp here (Dovercourt, Essex, England). They have been promised new homes in Britain. They will be supported by voluntary contributions, sheltered by British families, educated and taught trades and will then emigrate to British possessions. 12/13/1938"
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Most Important News Pictures of '38
2014.1.52
Front: A street scene in Berlin, showing the shattered fronts of Jewish-owned stores, the result of Anti-Jewish demonstrations following the slaying of Ernst Vom Rath in Germany's Paris Embassy. Vom Rath's slayer was a Jewish youth.Back: Typewritten information about the image, Credit Line (Acme) Bers No.1 Spl 12-13-38.
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Jewish Woman Seeking Refuge from Nazi Menace
2016.1.40
Front: woman sitting on steps with head in hand, a tag ‘247’ hangs from her sleeve; Back: handwriting in pencil and date handstamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: As the Nazi noose tightens, the number of Jews seeking refuge through the 1930’s increases exponentially, even as there are few countries willing to admit them. This woman’s expression embodies the frustration of the prospective Jewish émigré who is frantically attempting to find shelter from the Nazi storm, in this case a Polish-born Jew living in Germany who is one of 17,000 Jews rounded up and loaded in sealed railway cars and driven across the Polish border by SS men in October, 1938.
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Familien-Stammbuch, or German Family Register, Issued to Newlyweds on the Day of Marriage
2019.2.196
Small, rust-colored book with eagle emblem and “DEUTSCHES EINHEITS:FAMILIENT-STAMBUCH” etched in gold print on cover, inside front cover includes two yellow postage stamps, 56 pages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Stammbuch, issued by the local register office, included family names- both surnames and maiden names- occupations, birth and marriage particulars, names of children, church affiliations, information on the parents of the spouses, their nationalities, etc. Collecting this information was consistent with the importance of racial ideology and genealogy in Nazi Germany, and important and influential instrument in the overall emphasis on racial pride and the importance of being an Aryan.
This Stammbuch was completed by a German woman named Emma Paula Finkbeiner, born in Karlsruhe in 1907, and married to businessman Adolf Gustave Zender, also born in 1907. Their marriage certificate is included. Birth certificates of their children Horst and Siegrid are here as well. Mr. Zender reports on his racial classification that he is an Aryan, not Jewish.
On page 46, marriage impediments are enumerated, including racial difference, disability, hereditary disease, adultery, etc.
Page 50 details the racial meaning of the Jew according to the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935; i.e., anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents irrespective of whether the person identifies as a Jew or belongs to the community of Jews. Jews were thus to be excluded from Reich citizenship for racial and not religious reasons, and thus not allowed to marry or have sexual relations with persons of German blood.
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Postcard from Gestapo Addressed to Freda Oberegger
2019.2.221
Postcard addressed to “Freda Oberegger” on front. Back includes “Geheime Staatspolizei” in black print in upper left side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard from Berlin Gestapo, Geheime Staatspolizei, with purple Geheime Staatspolizei Berlin special cachet, cancelled in Berlin 3/28/39, addressed to one Freda Oberegger of Huttenberg, Karnten, Austria, concerning someone (“file number” 0.422) held in detention- in all probability a family member. The Gestapo acknowledge receipt of her communication, but report that further “investigation” is necessary, and that Ms. Oberegger would receive a decision later, perhaps before the month expires.
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Medical Note of Dr. Richard Diamant
2019.2.220
Document marked “Dr. RICHARD DIAMANT” in black print along left side and stamped in purple in lower right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: With the extension of the German Nuremberg race laws to Austria, the Nazis stepped up persecution of the Jews by disallowing Jewish doctors from treating non-Jewish patients. Thus Dr. Diamant could treat Frau Guenser, 34 years old, because she was Jewish. He confirms she is in good health without communicable or congenital disease. The caveat that he is only allowed to treat Jews is plainly seen in two places on his noted, after his address in Kleine Stadtgutgasse 3 in Vienna. The Star of David is circled and draws attention to the caveat.
Dr. Diamant, born in Vienna, was transported from Vienna to Kaunas, Lithuania on November 23, 1941, where he was murdered. He was 39 years of age.
His patient, Frau Coelestine Guenser, was transported to Theresienstadt Ghetto in October 1942. In January 1943, she was transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was murdered.
(Database of Austrian victims of the Holocaust, Documentation Centre for Austrian Resistance, Vienna) Yad Vashem Database.
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Reich Association of Jews in Germany Notice
2019.2.5ab
Document split into two pieces, "REICHSVEREINIGUNG DER JUDEN IN DEUTSCHLAND" written at the top in black print, tan, worn paper, writing in red in top right corner, "31" written in blue in top right corner, lower piece of document has "J" underlined in black print and red ink
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (originally called Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden ) was an umbrella organization established in 1933 to manage all aspects of Jewish life in Nazi Germany. The Nazis, specifically the RSHA , forced the organization to change its name in 1935 to accommodate the Nuremberg laws and the understanding that Jews were no longer citizens of Germany. By the time of this document the name was changed again to the Association of Jews in Germany due to changes in the organization. The organization was chiefly concerned with emigration and survival until emigration was banned in 1941. The Association also organized a network of Jewish schools, as Jews were expelled from German public schools. Throughout its history, the Association was headed by Rabbi Leo Baeck until he himself was transported to Theresienstadt. This document was sent to all Jewish professionals advising that the RHSA must issue and maintain identification on individuals, which identification must have a “J” on the document. Additionally, professional services, consistent with the Nuremberg laws, may only be provided to Jews.
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Press Photograph of Cordell Hull Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
2019.2.198
Black and white photograph of man in hat (Cordell Hull) talking in front of five other men, all looking down to write. Back of photo includes “International News Photos, Washington D.C. June 14th ‘39
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Cordell Hull before Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 14, 1939, nine days after meeting with Morgenthau regarding the SS St. Louis refugees.
Cordell Hull was Secretary of State under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in facilitating the creation of the United Nations. He was also instrumental in refusing any action that might have helped Jews persecuted by the Nazis.
When Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. recommended that passengers aboard the refugee ship SS St. Louis be allowed to debark with temporary tourist visas, Hull rejected the idea, citing the technicality that the passengers has not return address thus consigning them to the fate of having to return address, thus consigning them to the fate of having to return to Europe where many would be murdered by the Nazis. When French and German government officials complained about the rescue activities of Varian Fry, Hull demanded that Fry return stateside immediately. When Fry refused, Hull had his passport revoked. Indeed, Eleanor Roosevelt had to circumvent Hull to help Jews board the Portuguese ship SS Quanza and receive visas. With his assistant Breckenridge Long, Hull and the State Department’s discriminatory policies against Jews ensured that saving Jews being slowly crushed under the Nazi boot (e.g., by relaxing immigration quotas, issuing visas, or sending money to agencies working to rescue Jews) was simply not a priority, as a consequence of which many more were allowed to perish who could not otherwise have been saved.
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Postcard from Austrian Ship Redirected to German Refugee in Shanghai, China
2019.2.227
Postcard with one red stamp and one brown stamp in upper right corner, “17 July 1939” stamped inside box marked with large “R” in green ink, addressed “Lloyd Triestino für Passa.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard sent from Vienna to Lloyd Triestino Shipping Line (cachet) for a Jewish refugee fleeing Nazi Germany on his way to the Shanghai Jewish Quarter in the Hongkou District aboard the S.S. Victoria. This cover was first posted to Port Said, and then redirected to Shanghai. On this voyage were 300 German Jews fleeing to China, among the almost 20,000 Jewish refugees who fled to Japanese controlled Shanghai from Europe. Shanghai was an open port, no visas or passports were required, and was one of the only places in the world where Jews could find refuge from the Nazis. Many refugees fled after Kristallnacht- more than 12,000 in 1939 alone- through the Lloyd Triestino Line.
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Lehrbuch (Educational Manual) "Deutsch für Ausländer" (German for Foreigners)
2019.2.83
Book titled "Deutsch für Ausländer" in black print on worn, brown cover, 138 pages.
[Related items: 2019.2.81, 2019.2.82]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Lehrbuch educational manual to help foreign laborers with German language.
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Hermann Goering Reichswerke Form Letter
2019.2.202
Half-sized sheet of tan paper, two holes punched in left side, “Hermann Göring Werke” printed in black ink in upper left corner. [Related item: 2019.2.201]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Letter written to an employee, Franz Fried, of the Reichswerke in 1940, one requesting that he provide certain specific documents; and the other informing him that his employment contract has been assumed by the private company nominally under Goering. Includes Hermann Goering Werke letterhead.
Hermann Goering Reichswerke was an industrial conglomerate controlling iron, coal, mines, and steel mills expropriated from German-occupied countries: Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc. It likewise involved the exploitation of forced laborers, prisoners of war, and prisoners of concentration camps.
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Hermann Goering Reichswerke Letter
2019.2.201
Letter titled “REICHSWERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT FÜR ERZBERGBAU UND EISENHÜTTEN “HERMANN GÖRING” in bold, black print, two holes punched in left side, signed in blue ink. [Related item: 2019.2.202]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Letter written to an employee, Franz Fried, of the Reichswerke in 1940, one requesting that he provide certain specific documents; and the other informing him that his employment contract has been assumed by the private company nominally under Goering.
Hermann Goering Reichswerke was an industrial conglomerate controlling iron, coal, mines, and steel mills expropriated from German-occupied countries: Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc. It likewise involved the exploitation of forced laborers, prisoners of war, and prisoners of concentration camps.
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German Anti-Semitic Hotel and Spa Resort Directory in Black Forest
2019.2.191
Document titled “Heilklimatischer Kurort Herrenalb” in black print at top, ”Wohnungsverzeichnis” underlined. Directory lists on front and back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A guide to hotels and health resorts in the town of Bad Herrenalb listing establishments which exclude Jews. The statement that “Juden unerwuenscht” (“Jews are undesirable”) applies to all businesses with the cross as a symbol, which is to say all businesses listed. Many bear the notation as well that they are a “Judenfrei Haus” (“Jew-free house”). A number of businesses seem to be located on streets named after Hindenburg or Hitler.
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Gruss aus Karlsbad! [Greetings from Karlsbad!]: German Anti-Semitic Postcard
2014.1.18
Front: An illustration of seven caricaturized figures holding hands and dancing in a semi-circle. Back: Titled 'Corespondenz - Karte.' Includes a green border design, an orange postage stamp in the upper-right corner, and two hand stamps.
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"und die Rechte soll night wissen was die Linke tut" [The Right Shall Not Know What the Left Hand Is Doing] Postcard
2014.1.23
Front: An anti-semitic illustration of a short, bald man in a suit carrying a cross in his right hand while accepting money in his left from a figure labeled "Jüdisch-Französischen? Kapital" [French Jew? Capital]. Back: Blank postcard lines.
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Catholic Prelate Dr. Konrad Graf von Preysing" Denounced Nazis and Collaborative Actions of Other German Bishops
2015.2.12
Front: Black and white photograph of Bishop Konrad Graf von Preysing in glasses wearing ornate bishop's robes, holding a sceptre. Back: Blank postcard lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Bishop of Berlin during the Nazi era, then Cardinal von Preysing viewed the Nazis as corrupt and malignant, and openly challenged Nazism's ideological underpinnings. He consistently opposed the Nazi treatment of Jews--the only Catholic prelate who did so, and denounced the collaborative behavior of other German bishops.
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Sheet Music Signed by Composer Leon Jessel
2015.2.28
Front: Tan paper with three printed music staffs, and handwritten music notes/writing beneath each staff. Title and other information on top. Back: Tan paper with three printed music staffs. The top two staffs include notes and writing beneath those notes, but the third staff is blank. Beneath the third staff is Jessel's seignature, and a purple hand stamp with his name.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Leon Jessel was a Jewish composer who composed numerous operettas, classical music pieces, as well as popular music, including Schwarzwaldmadel, Parade of the Tin Soldiers, etc. Despite converting to Christianity, his music was suppressed by the Nazis. In December, 1941, Jessel was arrested by the Gestapo after a search of his apartment had revealed what had been interpreted as anti-Nazi sentiments in a letter to his lebrettist, in which he had written that "I cannot work at a time when hatred of Jews threatens my people with destruction, where I do not know when that gruesome fate will likewise be knocking at my door." Taken to police headquarters in Berlin at Alexanderplatz, he was tortured by Gestapo, and died soon thereafter in Berlin's Jewish hospital.
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I.G. Farben Liquidation 200 Reichmarks Bond
2015.2.30
Front: Green paper with textured green background. Title in green writing over black background. Beneath the title is a rectangle with an ornate green border, 200 written in every corner. On either side are two portraits of men. On the left are Liebio and Wohler, on the left are Kekule and Hofmann. A signature on either side. The bottom has four coupons for varying amounts.
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Gift for Lebensborn Children
2015.2.34
Front: Brown envelope with red cross and SS thunderbolts in the middle, with text above and below the cross. A Christmas gift envelope from the Bad Polzin-Lebensborn Home in Pomerania.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Christmas (referred to by SS as Julfest) gift envelope from the Bad Polzin -Lebensborn Home in Pomerania, situated in a medieval castle. The bag would be filled with a little gift and presented to children. The mothers would be living at the facility during the holiday. This particular home was opened in 1938. Under Himmler's direction after 1935, and as part of the Race and Settlement Bureau of the SS, the Lebensborn's goal was essentially to increase the birth rate of Aryan children in accordance with standards of racial, biological, and hereditary purity, and to ensure a life in harmony with nature. Unmarried maidens who met the requisite criteria gave birth to their children, while SS men were encouraged to volunteer the procreative services: all to ensure pure Aryan stock. The child was then given to the SS organization who took charge of education and adoption.
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Die Fahne Hoch [Horst-Wessel-Lied] Postcard
2015.2.58
Front: Tan postcard with green striped border. Left side gives German lyrics to Die Fahne Hoch, the national anthem of Nazi Germany. On the right is a portrait of Wessel in uniform, with a Swastika pin on his tie. Back: Blank postcard lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Horst Wessel (1907-1930) had been a young activist for the NSDAP, or Nazi Party. He had written the words to Die Fahne Hoch (but not the music), which became the national anthem of Nazi Germany. The hagiography commenced soon after his assassination in 1930, and he was eulogized by Goebbels at his funeral.
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Nuremberg Race Laws
2015.2.62
Front: Tan background with black text and charts made of circles with different colors in them. Red title at top. Charts like this were used to determine ancestry under the Nuremberg Race Laws.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: At the Nazi party rally of 1935, Hitler signed the Nuremberg Race Laws. The laws come under two different headings, "The Protection of German Blood and German Honor" and "The Reich Citizenship Laws." The first section was used to determine exactly who was identified as a Jew. Under the law, a person was considered a Jew even if they did not practice the Jewish faith. A "full-Jew" was defined as an individual with three or more Jewish grandparents. A "half-Jew" or "mischling," was an individual with two Jewish grandparents. A person with one Jewish grandparent was a "quarter-Jew" or "mischling of the second degree." Charts were handed out explaining the laws. The second section was the Reich Citizenship Laws, which stripped away German citizenship from all Jews. They were not allowed to vote or hold public office. It prohibited them from marrying a person of German blood. Jews were required to register their businesses with the German government, then Nazis would release the proprietors with no compensation. The businesses were then sold to non-Jewish Germans at a bargain price. During the first six years of the Nazi regime, there were over 400 legal restrictions imposed upon Jews and other persecuted groups. This card is a recent copy of the original.