1933-1939: Nazification and Early Stages of Persecution: Identification; Expropriation and Aryanization; and Emigration; First Concentration camps; Sterilization and Euthenasia Program; Internment Camps

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 Nazi anti-Semitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body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

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German Anti-Semitic Postcard

2014.1.19

Front: A color drawing of a Jewish man selling contraband goods while three officers detain him.Back: Blank green postcarte lines with a penciled "Judaika!" in the upper right.
German Anti-Semitic Postcard

2014.1.21

Front: A black and white illustration of three Jewish men playing music and singing to various laughing animals and children. [Howling Wolf]Back: Black printed postcard lines.
Russian Anti-Nazi Propaganda Flier

2012.1.63

Front: An illustration of a skeleton in a Nazi uniform pointing to a wall of death certificates titled, "Hier ist der Platz für Dich! Du wirst der Nächste sein!"Back: Text in German titled, "Deutscher Soldat!"

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A piece of Russian anti-Nazi propaganda. A skeleton in an SS uniform shows the police on the mortuary wall -- here's your place! you're next! A piece of Soviet produced anti-German/anti-Nazi propaganda leaflet to be dropped or shot over the lines to demoralize the German troops. The back contains a pass in German and Russian guaranteeing the bearer to safely pass through the lines and be taken to a happy captivity and a full belly.
"Ahnenpass" (Proof of Aryan Identity)

2012.1.81

Brown booklet titled, "Ahnenpaß." Includes Nazi seal on cover. Interior consists of printed text and registers filled in with handwriting.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Ahnenpass was published by the Zetnral Verlag of the NSDAP, the Nazi Party publishing house. Its purpose was to prove and record an individual's Aryan descent. All ancestors could be documented. Entries were checked by the church or municipal registrar's office. The Ahnenpas was mandatory for Nazi Party members, Wehrmacht officers, and of course, SS.
"Arbeitsbuch" (Labor Registration Document) for Herman Rosenbaum

2012.1.85

Brown booklet with eagle on the cover titled, "Deutsches Reich Arbeitsbuch. Interior includes grids and written or stamped information.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Arbeitsbuch -- a result of the Labor Law of 1935 -- required labor registration and use of appropriate documentation. It documented the work history of each German ciitzen. This is an early style document which comes with a Weimar eagle and small swastikas on the four corners. This document was issued to Herman Rosenbaum, a Jew.
"Arbeitsbuch" (Employment Record) for Gertrude Katzenstein

2012.1.94

Green booklet with brown cover including Nazi eagle and swastika. Titled, "Deutsches Reich Arbeitsbuch. Interior consists of charts and writing.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Arbeitsbuch (second style with Nazi eagle replacing the Weimar eagle) of Gertrude Katzenstein. She emigrated from Bremen, Germany and changed her name to Gerdy Laston in 1944. Items relating to Gertrude Katzenstein: 2012.1.38ab, 2012.1.39, 2012.1.40, 2012.1.94, 2012.1.95ab, 2012.1.566
"Reisepass" (Passport) for Gertrude Katzenstein

2012.1.95a

Dark green cover with Nazi eagle, titled "Deutsches Reich Reisepass." Interior includes biographical information about and a black and white photo of Gertrude Katzenstein.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Gertrude Katzenstein emigrated from Bremen, Germany and changed her name to Gerdy Kaston in 1944. This Reisepass has a "J" stamped on the first page. Items relating to Gertrude Katzenstein: 2012.1.38ab, 2012.1.39, 2012.1.40, 2012.1.94, 2012.1.95ab, 2012.1.566
Insert From "Reisepass" for Gertrude Katzenstein

2012.1.95b

Tan paper with printed text, titled, "Merfblatt für Reifen in das Ausland." Found in the Reisepass for Gertrude Katzenstein (2012.1.95a).

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Gertrude Katzenstein emigrated from Bremen, Germany and changed her name to Gerdy Kaston in 1944. Items relating to Gertrude Katzenstein: 2012.1.38ab, 2012.1.39, 2012.1.40, 2012.1.94, 2012.1.95ab, 2012.1.566
Anti-Semetic Label

2012.1.414a

Black label with skull titled, "De Joden Buiten!"

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Anti-Semitic Label from Belgium: "Out With Jews!"
Anti-Semetic Label

2012.1.414b

Blue label with illustration of river and hills titled, "Kauft nicht bei Juden."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Geman Label with Swastika exhorting people to not to buy from Jews.
Anti-Semetic Label

2012.1.414c

White label with blue Star of David. Titled, "Zur ärztlichen Behandlung ausschliesslich von Juden berechtigt."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Nazi label required for Jewish doctors, which announced that their practice was restricted to Jewish patients.
Anti-Semitic Label for Doctors

2012.1.414d

Small white label with blue Star of David. Titled, "Zur ärztlichen Behandlung ausschliesslich von Juden berechtigt."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A label required for Jewish doctors, consequent to the Nuremberg laws, which announced that their practice was restricted to Jewish patients.
Print of Adolf Hitler

2012.1.452

Black and white photograph of Hitler giving the Nazi salute in a Nazi armband. Back includes German text and title, "Adolf Hitler in München, Frühiahr 1932."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1932.
Real Photo Postcard of Adolf Hitler

2012.1.453a

Blank postcard with black and white photograph of Adolf Hitler accepting flowers from a young boy as a group of children salute him.
Real Photo Postcard of Adolf Hitler

2012.1.453b

Blank postcard with a black and white photograph of a young woman handing Adolf Hitler flowers as a group looks on.
Real Photo Postcard of Adolf Hitler

2012.1.453c

Blank postcard with a black and white photograph of Adolf Hitler in profile and hat.
Anti-Semitic German Notgeld

2012.1.456

A white bank note with illustrations in black, blue and yellow. Front shows the images of two Jews being hung. Back shows railroads and transportation and is titled, "Tostedt."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An anti-semitic German notgeld issued by the city of Tostedt in the early 1920s. It shows two Jews hanging on a tree surrounded by ravens. The inscription says: "This should happen to all those profiteers and Germany would be better off." Notgeld is "emergency money" issued to deal with hyperinflation and currency collapse.
Anti-Semitic Postcard

2012.1.469

A tan postcard with a black printed stamp with a cariacturized Jew with a hooked nose looking through a Star of David.
German Jewish Winter Aid Patch

2016.1.47

Circular cloth shoulder patch with two clasped hands before a light blue Star of David encircled by the name of the organization, ”Judische Winterhilfe Berline”.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Judische Winterhilfe was established in 1935 by the Reichsvertretung to aid unemployed and needy Jews. Jews were excluded from receiving general assistance during winter months by the Nuremberg laws, and thus set up their own organization to help with food, medicine and shelter even as they were pressured to leave Germany. For as long as the organization survived, it proved a model charity, opening soup kitchens, orphanages, etc. from funds provided by means of donations.
Adolf Hitler Election Broadside

2016.1.58

Tan paper with black printed German text, ‘Nr. 28’ at top right corner. Two illustrations of men at center.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Calls for the election of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. The text promises that greater Nazi influence will free the German people from subjugation by Jewish bankers. The illustration shows a bare-chested German laborer representing the German people struggling beneath a load labeled ”International Jewish Financial Capital”, juxtaposed with an image of the laborer ultimately freed from his load, hefting a sledgehammer emblazoned with a swastika.
Mein Kampf Promotional Broadside

2012.1.570

Tan poster with a black and white photo of Adolf Hitler. titled, "Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A promotional poster for Adolf HItler's work Mein Kampf, with Hitler's portrait prominently at top. The text celebrates the book, which sold for RM 2.85 at the time.
Oswald Pohl Family Tree

2015.2.172

Family tree on grey paper written in blue-gray ink with two names on the right circled in blue.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Oswald Pohl (1892-1951). Pohl was the head of the Economic Office of the SS and ultimate overseer of the concentration camp system. He was responsible for turning his victims' gold teeth, eyeglasses, hair, etc. into cash for the SS, using the "Max Heliger" Swiss accounts. He was captured by British troops in 1946 and sentenced to death by an American military tribunal for crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes, mass murder, and crimes committed in the concentration camps. Despite repeated appeals, he was executed in 1951.
Scheuer's Doppel-Ritter

2019.2.7

Yellow stamp with ridged edges showing image of an old woman and young girl.

[Related item: 2019.2.6]

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Scheuer's stamp from chicory coffee factory in Nuremberg- Fuerth founded by Georg Joseph Ignatz Scheuer.
American Isolationist Sentiment WWII: Pre-War Propaganda Stamps Advocating Non-Involvement in Europe

2019.2.33-.58

26 stamps of various sizes:

2019.2.33: “America First” in shape of shield

34: DEMOCRACY BEGINS AT HOME

35: MEMORIAL DAY 1941

36: 1ST BIRTHDAY

37: Benjamin Franklin quote

38: Abraham Lincoln in profile

39: HELP!

40: WAR? What For?

41: Birthright

42: DEMOCRACY BEGINS AT HOME (duplicate of .34)

43: Franklin D. Roosevelt quote

44: NO FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS

45: cartoon with two men

46: AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE

47: AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE (duplicate of .46)

48: NATIONAL UNITY?

49: NATIONAL UNITY? (duplicate of .48)

50: Thomas Jefferson quote

51: “Isn’t it great to be an American”

52: Make America Strong

53: Make America Strong (duplicate of .52)

54: John Q. Public

55: John Q. Public (duplicate of .55)

56: Remember You’re an American

57: America First

58: There’s No Way Like the American Way

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:The America First Committee, founding in 1940, was a non-interventionist group opposed to military involvement in a European War. It had opposed sending aid to Britain-Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease program-fearing that it would lead inexorably to America’s involvement in yet another European war. Among the numerous luminaries supporting this movement were the Kennedys, Charles Lindbergh, and Father Coughlin. Indeed, Joseph P. Kennedy, America’s ambassador to the Court of St. James, urged appeasement with Hitler, fearing that a war with Germany could not be won. Father Coughlin, militant anti-Semitic priest who would hurl invective at Jews on his popular radio program, was also part of this movement. Charles Lindbergh’s speech in Iowa in 1941, however, elevated the taint of anti-Semitism in claiming that Jews were pushing for a war that was not in America’s national interest, alluding to their broad influence in the press, radio and cinema. Lindberg downplayed his own racist and anti-Semitic views, as well as his admiration and sympathy for Hitler, which undergirded his defeatist stance.
Photograph of "Gypsies"

2019.2.203

Black and white photograph of women and children with ridged edges. [Related item: 2019.2.204]